Windows Explorer Hangs when I Try to Open Control Panel

I have a new(ish) laptop running 32-bit Vista Home Premium with SP1

Half the time I try to open the Control Panel from the start menu, it freezes. I close the program through the task manager and then it gives me a "solution", linking me to this page on microsoft support. I'm not sure this is an answer to my problem and the explanations on the page are not very helpful.

I could install the hotfix, but it says a security update has basically superceded the hotfix. When I click on that link, there are three potential files to download, but I don't know how to figure out which of them applies to me.

Thanks for all the help!

P.S. another problem that seems to have popped up is that Firefox seems to be acting a little funny, not refreshing pages correctly or hanging on facebook when I click on notifications or applications. No idea if they are connected, but thought I would mention it. I uninstalled and re-installed firefox to no avail