Go ahead and upgrade. Just make sure to check the options to keep your current settings and you'll be fine.
As far as your problem, press Alt-O, click on IRC on the left side of the options box and then uncheck the Queries box on the right inside the Show in Active box. That should solve your problem.
Thank you for the reply Riamus2! Un-checking the Queries box did the trick. I actually figured this out by the process of elimination, I just went in and unchecked all the boxes.
Although, I really appreciate you telling me which box this was, so now I know not to check it again!
