Kill the Explorer !! LOL umm, Probably easyest would be to reinstall one. Sounds like one of though addwares got to it in a bad way. Or you could go through the options and tern off things like the activeX and Java stuff till you can pin down more whats the problem.

Me I would save the favrets some whare, and nuke it ! reinstall it.
wheres Dave !! His advise would be much better than mine.