"I've disabled the ActiveX in my IE..." I've done the same. Many sites seem to work fine without the Active X control but a few do require it. Until/unless Firefox becomes the standard, there will be a lot of sites out there designed primarily with IE in mind. The more popular any alternative becomes, the more clever hackers will turn their attention to finding ways to exploit it. They (Mozilla) may have plugged the holes that IE left open but I'm sure they have their own vulnerabilities that are waiting to be discovered. That's just the way things work with software. I don't think You can lock something down completely without making it pretty much useless. I'd say no matter which browser you use, keep using the same precautions and keep up to date on new problems.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken