Maybe you've come across something that might help! On Thursday the 11th I took the time to install the security parches from Microsoft; Tuesday the 9th being patch Tuesday. The patches recommended were KB969897, KB961501, KB968537, KB970238, KB969898. I did not install the .net 3.5 patch. I finished by about noon. At the same time Quicktime and Java updated. Everything worked fine all afternoon. By 7:00 that night Internet Explorer would hang-up at opening. I have tried everything!! I uninstalled all of the security patches, double checked all of my connection settings (cable modem), months ago I updated to ie7-I tried to reinstall ie7 (not so sure I want go up to ie8), I changed the home-page to "about:blank" so it wouldn't try to connect to the internet, double checked the firewall to make sure it wasn't blocking access, ran anti-virus scan, nothing. Event Viewer records my patching session finishing at 12:30 and the first hangup at 7:00. Nothing in between.It's like it can't make connection and hangs. Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome work fine (so I can get on the internet). I can get and receive e-mails. Ie6 on my other 2 computers that were security patched at the same time work fine. I think it will open a local html file; some software has their help files as html, I think that will work. Two more oddities occurred at the same time - I have my computer set to turn off the monitor after a half hour of non-use. You move the mouse, the monitor wakes up and you are good to go. The monitor won't wake up now. I had to restart the computer to get the monitor back. I changed that setting real quick! I know, lets try Windows Restore. I can restore the computer back to Wednesday 10th. Nope, it refuses to restore back to the 10th, the 9th, or the 8th. Maybe I should try going back a month. Any ideas you might have will be helpful.

Without sentences, I had to reread your post many times, here are links that may help. How to reinstall or repair Internet Explorer in Windows Vista and Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378 Internet Explorer 7 does not start or stops responding http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926449 IE7 Runonce Errors - a solution http://tips-reviews-how-to.blogspot... http://forums.pcworld.com/docs/DOC-... Reset Internet Explorer Settings http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/20... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737 http://www.windowsreference.com/win... http://news.softpedia.com/news/Inte... To repair IE7, remove IE7 1st & then repair IE6. 1. Click Start, click Run, type appwiz.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK. 2. In the Currently installed programs list, click Windows Internet Explorer 7, and then click Remove. How to reinstall or repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ar... http://is-it-true.org/nt/xp/utips/u... http://www.windows-help.net/Windows... http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=... http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_... Windows XP comes with Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft has made IE part of the core operating system. If you think IE is screwed up, and want to repair it, you must use the sfc command: Start > Run, copy & paste > sfc /scannow & press Enter. http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc... This will scan and restore protected system files ( which IE is )

Thanks for the help. I did get ie7 back. The info regarding ie add-ons was what helped the most. Actually, I had thought of removing ie7, fixing ie6, reinstalling ie7, but I can't remove ie7. Add-remove programs in control panel shows ie7 but there is no remove button. Once I found "start internet explorer with/out add-ons", did that and it worked, it was a simple matter to disable add-ons one at a time until ie7 came back. It turns out that it was my Google tool bar that crashed the whole thing. I disabled, then deleted. Thanks again Frank