It seems as though users of Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer, are significantly more likely to click on ads than users of pretty much any other browser you could care to name.

Word comes via TechCrunch of a study undertaken by Chikita, which analysed results from a series of different browsers and operating systems. The fairly interesting result is that users who browse the web from Internet Explorer are, on average, around 40% more likely to click on advertisements than Firefox users, and that gap only gets wider when it comes to Safari and Chrome users who seem far less likely altogether to click on ads.

Of course, there are all kinds of reasons as to just why Internet Explorer users might be more likely to click on ads, but we’d be very likely to attach blame to the fact that Internet Explorer is, when it comes to an awful lot of Windows-based machines, a bit of a default choice when it comes to web browsers.

While it might seem like a bit of a no-brainer, we’d imagine that people who have been browsing the web for a while are both more likely to download and play with a second browser and less likely to click on advertising. Moreover, the fact that Firefox boasts plug-ins that allow users to block advertising means that many of its users may never see the ads that other browser users are shown.

That theory doesn’t quite account for the fact that users browsing from Apple’s Safari don’t seem as likely to click ads at all, but it does seem to fit in other respects…