Seriously,
Go
here and download Mozilla Firefox v0.8
It works fine, I like the tabbed browser windows (open a bunch on dialup and let them load while looking at other stuff).
Not a bad learning curve and seems to play with IE just fine (they leave each other pretty much alone).
I have had zero pop-up ads (actually pop-ups can be allowed by site and such).
Just for the heck of it, I played with current IE on XP with active-x turned off and all of the latest ad-aware, spybot search and destroy, spyware blaster, free version of zone alarm, google toolbar with pop-up blocker; and even after downloading new updates of these programs, I went to
www.drudgereport.com and immediately got a pop-under ad.
The tools seemed to have stopped most IE pop-up/unders--but there is still a class that seem to sneak through more often now.
I changed to Firebird because it does not have support for active-x and other hooks for spyware programs. I also like the cookie control... I just leave cookies off, and when I find a site that needs cookies, I turn on the ask before using function and then only let the site cookie through--and block the ad cookies. Then turn the cookie master switch off (still allows pre-approved cookies through).
And it just ticks me off that Microsoft supports so many programming hooks and virtually no controls for all of this junk-ware. I am boycotting IE, except when needed, as it is just too risky to use when browsing the web. There is so much stuff out there that can trash your computer's software and leave you with little choice other than to reload your OS from scratch.
Who knows, maybe someday I will finally get a FreeBSD or Linux installation--but FireFox is working for me now and everything seems stable.
-Bill