"there isn't anything that IE has that makes it inherently unsafe" Only true if you disable Active-X. IE uses Active-X for plugins, and that's how it runs all sorts of media. But it's always been extremely insecure and Microsoft knows that but refuses to change it. It allows a software programmer to create an Active-X module that can be automatically downloaded to your computer simply by going to a web site, and once downloaded it runs like a regular program on your computer and has access to the entire computer. A simple way to install spyware, install viruses, and do a lot of damage. You can set up IE so it will ask you if it's OK to use an Active-X module once it gets asked to by a web page, but that get's so annoying that people tend to re-enable them. Then they get bit again. Netscape 7, Mozilla, etc... don't support Active-X, so are not vulnerable to those same attacks.