Protecting email address access

Is there a way I can easily control which programs can access my email address book? Back when I used XP-Pro I had a program called Tiny Personal Firewall that allowed me to tell which programs tried to access the DLL files containing my addresses and block them from doing so.
I did this after noticing that most browsers and many other programs tried to access this address file when I used them. Blocking the access seemed to cut down on the amount of spam that I received.

Is there a program that I can use with windows 7 64 that allows the user to prevent programs from reading or accessing the DLL files and others containing information they do not need to operate?

I can see no reason for my browser, write program or any other non related program needs to access these items in the back ground.
Am I just being paranoid?

Michael