Internet Explorer 5 is here and Communicator 5 is on the horizon. Microsoft and Netscape have been working intensively on these latest versions, which promise to be smaller and more stable than the first 4.0 versions. But if you're cautious by nature, you'll stick with your 4.0 browser until the canaries who use version 5 have been singing for a couple of months.

No browser (or other complex app) is likely to be bug-free. But after a couple of years of patches and revisions, Communicator and Internet Explorer are pretty close now. Netscape recently posted Communicator 4.51 to its Web site and Microsoft may already have posted Internet Explorer 4.0 Service Pack 2 by the time you read this. Both correct minor flaws ù buttoning up loose ends, smoothing over irritating glitches and plugging obscure security holes.

Though Netscape assures us that no one has exploited these flaws yet, you should grab the update to reduce your chances of being hacked. To update your current copy of Communicator, choose Help-Software Updates.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer Service Pack 2 will collect the security fixes that appeared after SP1 came out last year (most of them already reported in this space). IE's Guninski counterpart is Spaniard Juan Carlos Cuartango, discoverer of the "Cuartango" and "Son of Cuartango" holes. As we went to press, Cuartango announced that he had found yet another IE 4 security flaw (dare we call it "Return of the Son of Cuartango?") ù one that allows naughty hackers to view the contents of your clipboard. To download Service Pack 2, choose Help-Product Updates.