well took close to three hours but i "did the drill" as you say. got rid of some things that were lingering around..including one virus. yet i still have the same problem. im almost convinced now that my problem is nothing more than, as robpomeroy put it, a "faulty" install of the update for my browser. i was able to access the "help" section of microsoft and sent them a description of my problem..to which i got a prompt response, suprisingly enough. they want a "detailed" description of my problem. i sent them a nice long email with screenshots and everything...now lets see how long this takes hehe. thank you all for your help..it is all very much appreciated. ill post the solution to my problem, if microsoft is able to find one, so that others with the same problem can easily fix it.
Mike