I have XP Pro, SP2, all MS updates, and I once followed NG advice to "fix"
this problem, that only cropped up overnight, and it worked. Now its
happening again. I can see that the URL opens on my taskbar, but it will not
open my IE.

I use AVG, Ad Aware, Zone Alarm, Spybot S&G, and my DSL has an internal
router in the modem, et al. Is one of these removing my settings? I've also
just noticed that when I hit Forward on some email messages, or a FAX,
Outlook attempts to perform, and I use OE; additionally, my address book is
gone from my fax, unless I click on my desktop MS Fax icon, and now a
directory opens, so if I click on Shortcut to MS Fax, then the Address Book
is present when the fax window opens.

I've run Trend Micro and all reports are the same as I get from the
others...which I run twice a week...but AVG updates and runs daily. Never
anything found but Cookies, which I have deleted.

Thank you all.