I had weird issues (frequent crashes) with 3.0.x but after updating to 3.5.x these went away, mostly. Both are much faster than IE7.0x and IE8.x. You could try the Portable Apps version of Firefox and see if it's more stable. Just install it in a different folder.
http://portableapps.com/apps(internet apps section)
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Mild Mannered Minion
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I feel the pull on the rope, let me off at the rainbow
-Anyway, Genesis