Toolbar not functioning – Win Xp home IE

The toolbar of my windows Internet explorer 6.0 is not functioning.
When I click on the start buton it just keeps the hourglass going on forever and nothing happens: the start menu never comes up.
At this moment all the icons on the toolbar have dissapeared leaving a purple colored bar.
I have tried using a virus program to fix it to no avail.
Thanks in advance for your help.