P.P - that's about it really. Mine was in a terrible state but I went one stage further after checking add ons that can be a pain, and getting rid of unused progs. I then went to the registry via 'run' / regedit. I removed a lot of residue stuff that hopes you will go back sometime. It works I can tell you and I have a very fast browser again and all is really well. But, you have to be very careful in there and ONLY delete somthing you know to be useless or part of a little trick. Avoid missing almost hidden add ons that are like leeches when you might download something you want.
After a miserable week of rubbish plaguing me I'm now a happy bunny.
A further tp. After opening IE let it load fully for a few seconds.
Have to say that Milo's advices have been a real help. Good quality advice.
PPP