Internet Explorer 7 Update

Hi, Several months ago I loaded Internet Explorer 7. Then, because I didn't care for it I tried delete it and restore my system back to IE 6. When I did this, not everything restored properly. I spent many hours on the internet with dell chat to try and fix the problem, but I was told it was best to go with Mozilla Firefox, which works fine for me. However, I keep getting notices from Microsoft that I need to up date this and also from Dell. I also like to keep my system up to date with Dell and Microsoft. Dell currently has an upgrade to Dell Support 2.0, but when I try to download it a window pops up that says: "This program requires that the .Net Framework be installed. Please go to Http://msdn2.microsoft.com/netframework/to download and install .Net Framework prior and try again." My question is: Do I have to have IE in order to maintain updates. Is there a place where I can let my computer know I am using Mozilla instead of IE. Thank you