IE krazee, Microsoft ripp off

My internet connection is fine using other browers and applications, my XP PRO with SP 3 are legal but can’t get IE7 to work (I gave up on IE8). I read a lot of old emails & wonder if anybody came up with new ideas. In LAN settings I tried to remove or check “Automatically detect settings”, “Use a proxy…”, with and without Addons. It works one time and then again it does not. I can open enough of the “welcome” page and go to Tools, but it does not load any sites.
Frustrated…