...you don't know what you're missing, Caliban. IE is garbage. It doesn't block pop-ups, it has annoying hangups, it's slower to load images, and it's much easier to hack. Ever get annoying crap like Gator, Hotbar, or other stuff installed on your computer without your permission? Firebird, Opera, and other browsers block that. Tab browsing is also great...there will never be a need for you to have more than one browser open at once.
I'd at least give Firebird a try. It's less than ten megs to download, and it's free. No installation as well.