There is no such thing as too much protection. I have so much guarding my computer that I never see anything worse than a Bravenet tracking cookie. I see things trying to stick themselves in my computer all the time, only to be snagged by the quartet of Spybot's Teatimer, Service Pack 2, Norton, and SpywareGuard/SpywareBlaster. I am HDS, master of hiding behind stuff! XP
Firefox has its advantages. It is faster than Internet Explorer, although not as terrifically as some say. It does have some features I absolutely love (Such as the View Picture command or somesuch that brings the picture you click on up in a new window, great for archivers like me). Personally, I use both, with the occasional drift to Opera. The major argument Firefox users used to make, that it has a pop-upo blocker, is no longer valid, since SP2 has a great one built in. Bill Gates and co. did a good thing with that.
As to the kid on AIM....with every hot new thang (As they say) on the net, people become obsessed. Evercrack (Everquest for the uninitiated), IMing, Blogging, all are examples.
