for a little bit now my internet explorer will not open. if i click on it from the start menu, the hour glass appears as it would normally while it is opening but nothing ever happens. the hour glass goes away and still nothing. i have system restored back to when it was working a couple of times but it is only very temporary then it won't work anymore again.

i am using windows xp home edition, version 2002, service pack 3, 64*2 dual core processor 4600+

thanks in advance for taking the time-

What version of IE? You may need to reinstall it. Have you scanned for malware?

it is IE 8. i did a scan with spybot s&d which came back 100% clear.

Try starting it without Add-ons.

Click Start then Run, type iexplore -extoff and press Enter or click on Go, or click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)

If that works then use Tools / Manage Add-ons to disable all of them then start normally and start enabling them a few at a time until you find the culprit.

i did log on successfully (with no add-ons) as suggested and disabled anything questionable(basically if it wasn't from microsoft and i'll see.

Good, please let me know what happens, thanks.

Well, that's a sure sign one of your add-ons was causing a conflict.

well like i said it opened with no add-ons (that time) and i disabled them but it's still being very difficult. sometimes it will open and sometimes no. ? also a couple of new things have started. for one this pop up about script debugging keeps appearing (like A LOT) so i looked into that and tried disabling script debugging from the tools/internet options/advanced/browsing option that i read about. didn't stop it. also when the internet expl does open either everything will freeze after about 30 seconds or a message will appear telling me that "generic Host 32 needs to close. sorry for the..." then everything is frozen. basically since i started trying to work on this initial problem, everything has just gone screwy and i don't really know what to do. the way i'm getting to this site is via mozilla firefox but even this one sometimes is giving problems in which case i just reboot the computer and try it again. any help would be fantastic.

Please post in our Malware removal area. It really sounds like you may have picked up something:

Spyware, Adware, Viruses and Malware Removal

Start with the first post: Read This First - IMPORTANT Instructions (updated 8/1/2010)

Post back here if that does not resolve the problem or you are not infected.

ok thanks