This isn't really an answer SASless, because I can't guess at what is making your Incompetent Exploder fall down and I don't know how to fix it. It sounds as if you have some malware there.
But why don't you just forget it and install Firefox?
To quote from one of my recent posts on the topic "Spyware Rampant..." -
"If you really MUST use a Microsoft operating system then for heavens sake use a better and safer browser - IE is really a disaster these days and the new version (supposedly better) won't be out for at least a year.
There's really no excuse today, the latest Firefox (1.5) is now out and runs like a dream -
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ "