Fuck internet explorer.
I also design websites for a living, and IE is the worst browser to design for. There is a set of standards that browsers are encouraged to meet in order to make the web a bigger, better, more accessible place, and IE, in typical microsoft fashion, summarily shits on those standards. Furthermore, it starts slow, has incredibly limited extensibility and tabbing options, mines your data, and presents significant security risks. The only reason it is still the most widely used browser is because of archaic businesses and public institutions like public libraries who are too lazy to switch to something free and superior.
What browser you use instead will depend on your browsing style, but only the most ignorant user will continue to use Internet Explorer. I use chrome for general browsing because it is very fast and has a lot of nice features for opening and managing lots of tabs. For instance, there is only one bar that serves as both your address and search bar. It knows when you have typed in a search or a url. Furthermore, when you open a new tab, the cursor automatically goes to the address/search bar so you can get where you wanted to immediately. It also has a clean interface that leaves almost the entire window free for viewing web pages. I use Firefox for the add-ons and for web de-bugging.
I hope you will help make the internet a better place by NEVER USING INTERNET EXPLORER EVER AGAIN! And if you can, get your friends and parents to switch to something that actually works too.