It scored the highest in terms of how positively it is perceived on the net, compared to McDonald's which had the most negative perception online.

Microsoft was the most prominent company name in the index, but it was the sixth most negatively perceived.

The DEX index was calculated using a scoring system which works out popularity across the net.

"For a brand holder, gaining any kind of useful information about a brand or company's standing on the internet - particularly in comparison with competitors - is tremendously difficult."

Response to critics

eBay has recently had an advertising campaign on UK TV, and has seen its profits boosted too.

The success of the PayPal online payment service has helped to take sales over the $1bn mark, eBay said. It is relying on emerging markets, like China, to add more users to its auction service.

McDonald's has featured in the news over the last year as the result of the Supersize Me film, as well as the conclusion of the McLibel case, the longest running legal case in English history.

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It also put adverts in five newspapers saying its food should be eaten as "part of a balanced diet".

Microsoft's Windows operating system is used on the vast majority of personal computers globally, and has recently heavily publicised its Service Pack security update, which affected all of its customers using Windows XP.

It also issues monthly bulletins which make people aware of potential flaws or security holes which have been discovered.

But a lot more people are also becoming aware of brand names online in general and talk about them online, in blogs, for instance.

Market analysts, Verdict, recently found the internet was the fastest growing retail sector last year, attracting one in four shoppers.

Envisional looked at 100 companies from the FTSE-100.

The popularity of each company is then judged by combining "sentiment" measurements, which scores each brand name according to negative and positive references in the context in which the brand is discussed.

Google came out top as the most popular online brand in a survey by web magazine, Brandchannel.com, in 2003.

It came in second as the most prominent brand in Envisional index, but did not make the top 20 in terms of most negatively or positively thought of.

McDonald's was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.