IE hangs, not reponding

I've HP notebook with WIN XP(home edition),IE7,sp2 with latest updates.
as it's from xp so the default home page is fixed as www.hp.com
whever i open the IE it tries to open HP site once I click on stop to open any other site it hangs,not responding.I'm unable to change the home page I make it blank but again it come HP.

1.please let me know why it hangs and take long time
2.how can i chage my home page to blank or something else