Hi everyone!

(I am using Windows 98 S.E. and internet explorer 6 SP1)
Just earlier today I'm getting a problem within internet explorer that the page cannot be displayed dialogue is coming up no matter which website I try to enter (whether i type in www format or i.p.), yes EVERY TIME! I later realised that when I go into windows explorer however, it works fine. e.g. I click on my computer, then type internet addresses in that window. But whenever I try to launch an internet explorer window or a popup comes up, I get the same page cannot be displayed problem. I have to go through windows explorer every time I need to view a site. Also this shows that it's not a problem with my ISP, since even msn emssenger works fine. Problem is just with internet explorer.
Im nto really sure how the problem started but I must admit, I deleted some registry values earlier but I am 90% sure that they didnt effect it. Because these were just to remove an annoying option frm the right click menu within internt explorer that this program added itself. Besides, I was using internet explorer after that and it was completely fine! The problem actually began a few hours later after I had just finished a spyware scan from adaware 6. I deleted everything that was found as I usually do, then when I opened internet explorer this started to happen. I have not installed any programs though I did get some spyware installed from some site i went to, which is why i did the ad aware scan.

What I have tried and hasn't helped:
Used adware, spybot S & D, Hijack this to remove possible spywares
Did a virus scan and deleted 20 odd files that it found
Re installed internet explorer, tried to use the "fix errors" option in it as well
Re installed my modem

Note I can also ping sites completely fine from ms dos prompt, the problem lies within internet explorer itself :mad:

So can anyone help? I noticed from older threads links to an internet registry fixer or something, but these links do not work. Can anyone help me by giving me a working link for it, as I think it might help? Also, I have heard about "scanreg" and that it can be used to restore the registry. Does it change or remove any files from the hard drive if I use it to restore the registry? I do not want to lose the files I have and I preferably wouldnt want to do a system restore.

Thanks for reading this very long post, and thanks in advance to all of you for your help!