Some questions about running windows applications

I've avoided doing this like the plague every since getting my first Macbook four years ago. The husband and I converted to Macs after getting tired of all the virus issues with PC (after a complete reformat of his desktop, all he did was accidentally open IE instead of Firefox one time, and suddenly he had spyware and all kinds of things slowing down his machine's performance and mucking everything up...again.)

I know I'm preaching to the choir around here, so I won't wax poetic about how much we love our Macbook Pros, or our white Macbooks before that (other than the showing dirt issue). It's amazing how many people's first response on seeing my MBP is "Oh, you have a Mac? They are so expensive!" I converted a friend by having her custom build (online) a Toshiba laptop to all the same specs at a $1499 Macbook Pro...they were within $100 of one another by the time she was done, so she ended up with a 13" MBP identical to mine, and like me, will never go back.

That being said, there is one Windows program I miss, and keep my old IBM around to utilize. Mobipocket Creator creates .prc files out of Word or PDF docs so I can read them on my Kindle. Stanza does the same thing for Mac, but loses all the formatting in the process. Mobipocket is about 1000 times better. I've done some research at what it would take to run a Windows program on my Macbook, but honestly, I find a lot of what's out there confusing.

So, some questions:

~ Do I have to partition and install a windows OS, or can I get away with an emulator and just the program I want?
~ If an emulator is fine, which ones do you recommend?
~ Does running any windows programs on my Mac make it more vulnerable to spyware/viruses?

If the answer to that last is "yes", I'll probably just keep my IBM and continues using Mobipocket on it.

Thanks in advance; I am not computer illiterate, but neither am I savvy to a lot of the more advanced techniques and language. I vaguely know how to create partitions on my Mac (just formatted an external drive to extended OS, so...) but beyond that, I know nothing.

You do have a couple of options. If you wish to install say Windows XP or Windows 7, you can do this through BootCamp which is built into Leopard and Snow Leopard, but you have not provided your operating system. If you were to go this way download Microsoft Security Essentials to handle AV and malware.

A program such as Crossover may well be better to run just one individual program. Windows viri cannot affect Mac OS X but can do so to Windows partitions.

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/