how to fix my IE, tired of using FireFox.?

But, why don't you use Firefox? It's the best browser and has several add-ons. Moreover, Firefox has the best security features when compared with any other browser available in the market.

Not having a browser to just "work" is very painful especially trying to fix IE is a big pain, since it is "interconnected" with the system. If you have XP you can remove it and reinstall it by downloading a new version, if you have Vista then it is almost impossible. But Time is valuable and why not try a browser that just "works", is fast, and safe?

you can try Opera 10 b/c it doesn't use "add-ons" it is 100x safer than Firefox because no program can make changes to Opera or affect it.

Opera 10 is good on resources its very lightweight and can be used on any type of Internet connection (you can surf the web at DSL speeds even on Dial-Up!). Opera 10 includes a host of useful and powerful features which make it a robust browser without the need of add-ons.

you can download Opera 10 browser Free here:

http://www.my.opera.com/samMD

On start up (before Windows loads) keep tapping either F5 or F8 then use arrow keys to highlight 'Last known good configuration' click on a user account, enter the password (if you don't know it, there probably isn't one so leave it blank) and hit return/enter.

If that doesn't work, try again, but this time highlight 'Safe Mode' click on a user account, enter the password (if you don't know it, there probably isn't one so leave it blank) and hit enter/return.

A window will pop up asking if you want to carry on with safe mode or use system restore. Choose system restore, go back to a date before your friend used the laptop.

If you still have problems with IE, get a friend to download it and copy to disk/flash for you to install from.