Perhaps as long as a year ago I had a serious change in the way my IE connection functioned. I eventually learned what had to be used and what couldn't, e.g. having to connect to my ISP through the Start menu.
I figured the whole works would probably soon crash and I would need to re-install Windows or get a new computer.
Then one day a few months ago, upon booting "My Documents" came up first and everything that had been screwed up went back to normal!!
It may be somewhat slower to boot this way, but I am really reluctant to try and "fix" it.