No you won't be fine....You can't do an online virus scan or use Windows Update without it, along with some online banking and other sites. I would first check under IE's file menu that you aren't "working offline"
The next step is going to be malware scans.
I like this tutorial on malware removal, It does however miss what I think is an important step. First thing you should do is update your antivirus definitions and run a virus scan. It only tells you to scan online and if you can't use IE you can't do that.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407