internet explorer problem

HI-please be patient with me as i am not completely literate when it comes to computers. was told about your site from someone who says you guys are the TOPS!!
i can not access any internet sites that are secure. i use AOL and i know they have there own set of issues. talked to them and they said it was a problem with my high speed provider. spoke with them and they say it's an internet explorer problem. i know i can not get online by using internet explorer so i am thinking this is the culprit.
I am using (well not using) the version of IE that was installed on the computer when i purchased it. Ver 5.1 Service Pak 2. So i'm pretty sure that is an issue since now IE 7 is available. downloaded that but did not fix my problem but now i hear 7 has it's own issues so i have uninstalled that.
How can i fix my problem as i have a part time home biz that is beginning to suffer from lack of use.
I have removed a security i loaded on thinking that was having a firewall keeping me from using but has not helped.
Also i now get a new message when i restart with the following : "The system DLL user 32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occured because the DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\HHCTRL.OCX occupied an address range reserved for windows system DLLs. The vendor should be contacted for a new DLL"
I don't know how this happened or what a DLL is.
Thank you all for your help.
katiekat

 

Hi katiekat and welcome to MGs,
You should look at post #5 in this thread - http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=122536
That leads you to a fix for your new message.
Getting that straightened out may help with the initial problem, if not post back here and someone can help you with that.
Good Luck