Yeah...just viewing a web page has never led to a takeover exploit before....

http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=457

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-032.mspx

And it will happen again.

1) Nobody uses Opera. First link is a moot point.
2) IE always prompts before running ActiveX controls, unless you specify in your options to run them automatically - in which case, you deserve to have spyware installed on your computer. In fact, you probably deserve it for using IE to begin with.

Oh, like the 90-somthing percent of all the people who surf the web?

Fact of the matter is that there are so many ways user can be tricked into installing keyloggers and malware (some of the clickjacking frauds are very hard to detect, even for "savy" users) - it's pretty much valid to say "clicking that link will get keylogger installed on your machine".

If you really believe that you are no security expert.

Just take a look at http://www.securityfocus.com/vulnerabilities

Look up MS IE 6, 7, 8

Look up Mozilla Firefox 1, 2, 3

Look up Safari even

All have had holes which dont require ActiveX (yes ActiveX has probably been the largest culprit of major holes, but it is far from the only culprit).

Opera, the most secure browser, has even had a few.

And don't forget to look up Macromedia Flash & Shockwave they have had some of the worst holes recently which have let some1 completely root your system even from a limited account, just by visiting a site w/ an infected flash file. All add-ons are just as susceptible.

The internet is a dirty place and you need to watch where you're going if you want to keep your PC safe. It's the reality of the matter. Unless you're running Lynx on a terminal dont assume nothing can hurt you.

Well, I'll just say this then. I've been using the web for 15 years. I repair computers for a living, have a BA in computer science, and I have a CompSec+ certification. And through all of this, I have -never- gotten infected with spyware just by visiting a webpage. If you or anyone else has managed to do so, well, kudos to you. I imagine you're the kind of people that manage to get their cars caught in power lines.