trouble with IE. any help?

[Demon Furor]

i am having strange trouble with IE. when i open internet explorer directly, it comes up with a cannot find server error. but when i open windows explorer and then type a site address into the address bar, it works fine. but if i get a popup ad or a _blank window, the new window says cannot find server.

think it could possibly be a virus at work? all i can think of is that, or some sort of spyware is tryin to redirect through a proxy before it goes to the address, and the proxy is non-existant.

i have windows me and internet explorer 6, btw.

[Demon Furor]

also, btw, this is the reason for my newb question post. i am trying to see if someone is directly connected through maybe a trojan i overlooked, or if spyware is sending out without my consent..

[SasArchiver]

not an IE setting?

[astcell]

Do you have Kazaa Lite installed? It has you install a host file that points all the spam sites to 127.0.0.1 so that you get the page not found window you mentioned.