Opera is Fan-freakin'-Tastic!
I never use IE.
in fact in my ZoneAlarm settings I have IE FORBIDDEN (red [color=FF0000]X[/color]) to have internet access.
I don't notice the "ads", and it's very fast, has these great mouse gestures, sessions, tabs, the list goes on.
basically, anything that is not that piece of cr$p IE is good to use.