Internet Explorer Fails Once After Each Time It Is Started (Using XP)

Every time I start IE, it works, and then fails when attempting to update a link once it’s in a web page (no consistency on when it fails though). After it fails once, it usually works fine for the rest of the session, but it has to fail at least once per session. I keep patches for both IE and XP up to date. I’ve also removed and re-installed IE twice. I’d prefer not to start from scratch by erasing and reinstalling XP. Any ideas?