I am hoping that you have heard of firefox - the newest browser to hit the show. I have been using it for about a few months now and i am a happy man ! I've have to spend several hours a day cleaning up spywares (i use spybot) from my PC in the days of Internet explorer. I then found firefox (for those of you who've heard of netscape - firefox was created from ground up by the makers of netscape), and a couple of days later - was sold (apparently i am not the only one). If this is the first time you have heard of firefox, i encourage you to visit the firefox site.
If your main worry is about settings and bookmarks (favourites) that are already present in internet explorer - no fears - you will find that they have appeared in firefox as well. For more details on how to switch read this or read the step-by-step tutorial to firefox.
After having used firefox for a couple of months, i have noticed that my spyware problems have virtually disappeared. I do, occasionally, run into a site that looks ugly in it because the site insists that its been designed for internet explorer. I conveniently choose to overlook these sites or if nessecary - reluctantly open them in internet explorer.
Having said that, here's this innovative project that aims to get firefox to the portable world. For someone like me who carries everything in a flash drive (a small portable storage thing which can be attached to the USB port of your computer and be used to carry a substantial amount of data in it), i received a pleasant shock when i read that firefox can now be carried and run off one !! check out - Portable Firefox !