Greets,
I am having the exact same problem that is being described here. My internet explorer refuses to close under WindowsXP after more than one window is opened up. I have used WindowsXP for the past 2 years now and have never seen this happen before so i can only assume that this is something relatively new.
The only way that is possible to shut down the excess windows is to shut down all Internet Explorer windows through the task manager.
I could be wrong, but this is acting alot like some kind of browser re-routing and/or hijacking. I have been seeing occasional windows just popping up with unusual, unknown long addresses in them...they usually do not successfully connect to anything and only result in a standard IE connection error page.
I have tried some of the usual stuff as well (adaware, IEdoctor, etc...) nothing changes. I've also tried re-installing IE6 over the old version and only get a failed install notification.
If anyone knows what is causing this and how to correct it...please let us know