[OT] Browsing the internet... It is safer from Linux?

[Richmond]

Every time I have installed a variant of Windows on a machine that is 
connected to the
Internet, sooner rather than later, things have gone 'queer'.

Therefore, as I have to have a Windows box for software testing, I have 
a machine that is NEVER connected
to the internet, and the ONLY files I transfer to it are my own for testing.

First off:

1. I have never liked the idea of having to buy a product that is 
'dicky' as soon as it is
     unwrapped, and even mentions the fact in its documentation.

Second point:

I use a variety of Linux boxes and Macs around my home and my business 
and have never
had any problems that could be ascribed to internet browsing, ftp-ing, 
or otherwise [ normally
problems can simply be ascribed to my having been too clever for my own 
good, mucking
around with operating system underpinnings ].

On the very, very few occasions I have had to connect to the internet 
with the dreaded Internet
Explorer [ i.e. to see how my website looks ] I have used IE with WINE [ 
a sort of Windowsy thing
that lets you run most Windows programs on Linux ].