IE 6.0 problems loading

[KJ Thompson]

I am using IE 6.0 with XP and am having much difficulty
with the program. When loading the program, it takes an
inordinate amount of time to load the home page, and in
most cases hangs and becomes unresponsive. I tried
changing to load a blank page, to which IE loaded just
fine, but when attempting to view a web page, again it
either took an extreme amount of time to load of become
unresponsive.

I have thus far:

Downloaded all current windows updates.
Downloaded the latest defintions of my anti-virus software
(and performed a scan)
Searched for ad software using ad-aware.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[KJ Thompson]

I am also getting a strange file appearing on my desktop
called p8õwÿÿÿÿ¨Dùwp}õw

It's size is 0 bytes, and has no file type listed in its
properties.