I had (have) an internet problem due to a virus program called SpySheriff. One day an icon appeared in my toolbar for SpySheriff and a balloon came up saying it detected a virus on my computer and to click the balloon to install SpySheriff to correct it. I clicked the X to close the program but instead it instantly installed it. SpySheriff makes IE take a very long time to connect to the internet and other problems also. Then it tries to sell you a fix to cure the problem it caused. I had 2 computer techs work on my computer for 3 days trying different ways to get rid of SpySheriff and the problems it caused with no success. They now recommend re-installing Windows which would be a major pia.
I installed Firefox to use as an alternate browser and it works very well and opens most pages faster than IE did before the crash. I have some very minor issues with Firefox, such as trying to make web pages with background music that it can play, but overall, I like it much more than I did IE and I believe it is more invincible to picking up most viruses, trojans, etc.