Get Firefox as your browser and Thunderbirdas your email client.  The only place I use IE is here (for some unknown reason I just can't get NAT to work right on Firefox.  Never have been able to figure out what I have configured wrong).  I do use Outlook, but I use it on my off-line computer for addresses and scheduling.

There are enough rascals out there taking pot shots at Microsoft and its products that the security risk is just not worth it.  I figure someday it will be a problem with Mozilla stuff too, but it is not nearly the problem MS products are. 

Oh, and on another thread there was discussion of a different ag forum and all the ads and pop-ups ... I never see them with Firefox and a good hosts file

Go to Mozilla and download both Firefox and Thunderbird for free.  http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/