I'll also put in a recommendation for people to use Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail instead of Outlook Express.
Like Firefox, Thunderbird doesn't allow a lot of risky technologies by default. It has its own built-in spam filter too.
In addition to using Thunderbird (or even if you don't want to use it) all Internet users should first check their e-mail headers through a remote home page and then only download legit mail to their computer's local hard disc by way of applications like Thunderbird.
For example, I go to SBC's home page to check my personal e-mail accounts. They filter out a great deal of spam through their "bulk" mail folders there. I simply scan through that folder and then delete all of it. Then my queue of e-mail is safe to download onto my computer via Thunderbird. I also practice this same behavior for company e-mail by way of managing e-mail through the website server. In doing this I give criminal scumbags out there very little chance at all of infecting any of my computers. They really need to go jump off a cliff for all I care -or just find something positive and productive to do for a living. The freaking jerks.
If most computer users practiced that extra step for managing e-mail, most computer virus activity would be mercilessly killed very fast. We would see a dramatic drop in the amount of spam as well -since nearly all spam is sent by worm-infected computers.