Seriously there can be like 1 million didn't reasons why. If your getting packet loss and/or a weak signal the first thing I would do before blaming your computer and yourself. I call up your DSL provider and see what is going on could be a weak signal or could lead your DSl modem to somehow shut off IE. Depends call up your DSL provider and see if they see any problems on your system.

If you can I would highly recommand you to upgrade to a better OS like Windows XP Pro so far with friends and all I put them all on WinXP Pro I see too many strange annoying problems on WinXP Home. Those are just my two cents.