On the face of it the desktop's Internet Explorer appears to have some kind of problem - everything else seems to be working.
I used to use Firefox as my browser but now use Google Chrome - it's much faster. You might consider changing your browser - at least as a diagnostic.
If it works OK with a different browser you might then use that browser to download a new copy of IE.
Else - go for a new IE immediately.
While you're looking around - examine the Startup list - see if there's anything nasty in there - just in case.
Good luck...
Peccavi
December 2010