text: I've seen this happen with some viruses...\n\nI would run some free virus scanners just to make sure that you've caught and cleaned everything on your computer.  AVG is a free AV software product or you can download and install which will provide "real-time" protection of your computer.  There are also some free online scans such as the one at TrendMicro: http://housecall.antivirus.com.\n\nIf running those scans doesn't restore your IE settings, you might need to reinstall the software.  There is a new version of IE available (version 7) from the Microsoft web site.