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While I could rave on and on about IEs security problems, it's much easier to let others do it! Read the links below for yourself.
Briefly, though, I think it's important to stress the major security difference between IE and all other browsers: its "trusted zones" security model. No other browser has, or even needs, that type of security model. No other browser needs to have the sort of low-level access to Windows' internals that IE needs to. That is why any security flaw in IE is so serious.
The most serious flaws in IE are those that can flip IE from its "Internet/untrusted" zone into its "Local computer/trusted" zone. Every other browser only has the equivalent of an "Internet/untrusted" zone. It's simply not possible for any other browser, apart from IE, to be flipped into a "trusting" mode.
Now, some people will try and tell you that when the alternative browsers become more popular, people will start finding more security holes in them! That's true, to a certain extent. However, the fact that the alternative browsers do not use such a flawed security model means that whatever security flaws they do have can never be as serious as the security flaws IE is capable of.
Also, feel free to browse Secunia's evaluations of Internet Explorer 6 (released Oct-2001), Firefox (released Nov-2004), Opera 7 (released Jan-2003) and Opera 8 (released Apr-2005). From the release dates you can derive another interesting metric - the rate of advisories issued per unit time. (As at 2005-06-23, IE:1.467/mth, FF:2.375/mth, O7:1.167/mth, O8:1.667/mth.)
On to the articles...
Here's a link to an interesting phishing exploit. Currently (2004-07-15) there's no patch for it. It only works well if you're using Windows XP (it looks a bit funny on other versions of Windows).
createPopup)Sadly, if you run Windows, you just can't get rid of IE. You need it to access Microsoft's Windows Update web site. You also need IE to access poorly written web sites that only work with IE. Thankfully, such sites are rare.
Even if you can't completely stop using IE, greatly reducing your use of it is a huge leap up in the security and safety of your Internet surfing. By using an alternative browser, you're making it much more difficult for the "bad guys" to get you!
If you're worried that you can't have more than one web browser installed at the same time, don't worry. I've actually got five versions of Internet Explorer installed on my Windows 2000 machine (6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0, 3.0), plus Opera and Firefox. No conflicts at all.
My favourite browser is Opera. If I find a site that doesn't work (very rarely), I try the site in Firefox. If that doesn't work (even more rarely) and I really need to see that site, I'll use IE.
If you're wondering why I have so many browsers installed, it's simple: I like to test my web pages on a variety of browsers to make sure they work on as many as possible. I've got even more browsers installed on a variety of VMware virtual machines. They are: Netscape 7.1, 4.8, 3.04, 2.02, Mozilla 1.7, and Opera 6.06. I only rarely bother testing on them.
There are many good alternative browsers. For those who like the idea of an integrated "Internet application", with web browser, email, newsreader, chat, and RSS feed aggregation, there is my favourite browser, Opera:
Don't worry if Opera sounds a bit complicated. You can easily hide the mail, news, chat, and rss stuff (Tools » Preferences » Programs and paths, untick "Enable mail and chat"). When you feel like exploring you can always turn them back on later.
Opera even make it easy for you to configure their browser to look and feel just like your familiar Internet Explorer: Customize Opera.
For those who like their web simple and straight to the point, there is Firefox:
Pairing up with Firefox is the email/newsreader package, Thunderbird:
Apart from Firefox and Thunderbird, The Mozilla Foundation also has a suite application similar to Opera (but a whole lot bigger and slower): Mozilla.
Maybe you're not sure about any of the above, and would prefer a more "well-known" name? How about Netscape:
Note that Netscape 7 is a re-badged version of Mozilla, with a lot of Netscape add-ons.
Don't be fooled by applications calling themselves browsers, but are in reality nothing more than shells around Internet Explorer. While they may provide a more functional and user-friendly interface compared to Internet Explorer, they do nothing to improve the security of your web surfing. You might as well still be using Internet Explorer, because underneath all the pretty controls and fluff, they all are still Internet Explorer. Some of these applications are:
