[Alneyan]

Yes that is exactly the problem Kwok. At best, the alternative programs are slightly less vulnerable than MS ones, at worse they are equally vulnerable, but in both cases, it would be hard to make a program completely safe. [Cynical] And the companies developing anti-viruses software would hate that. [/Cynical] Their main protection is the fact that they are not very used unlike MS programs.

I am using myself Mozilla Firebird (standalone browser) and Thunderbird (standalone mail program), and these two are more than satisfying for me. (I have only experience problems with some sites using layers) And the tabs... This feature is quite hard to explain, but so useful when you have to browse ten or twenty windows at the same time. You could also download the whole Mozilla (the one Baron Munchausen mentioned), there are few differences between that suit and the standalone programs.