Yahoo is disputing independent figures from Jupiter Media Metrix that show Microsoft has the most popular search engine, according to an AFP story here. The point is that Microsoft's dominant Web browser searches MSN by default, so visits may be involuntary ones. In the same way, MSN's portal figures are artificially inflated by Hotmail users who pay the site involuntary visits after signing out (which is why I make a point of closing the browser window immediately). It is easy to sympathise with Yahoo's point of view. But of course, it used to have a default search engine deal with Netscape when Navigator had a monopoly market share, and if you install Yahoo Essentials for Internet Explorer, it does exactly the same thing.