MSIE unusable in Compaq Presario 4000

Compaq has taken registration madness to new heights in the Presario 4000. When you attempt to open Internet Explorer you are taken to a registration screen. I and my customers have no problem in registering the machine but the registration process forces you to a dialer with no options. It doesn’t work too well when the system is connected to DSL through a NIC and a router. Even deleting and reinstalling MSIE does not fix the problem. Compaq tech support says the machine is “too new” and they don’t know how to fix the problem.