Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.26 will not download anything; I get a little
square icon in the upper left corner. And if I click on an email address in my 
Outlook Express mailer MSIE will not respond to it but it will go there if I 
insert the address into the address bar.

Worse than that, I cannot find a way to uninstall MSIE so that I can reinstall 
it! You can't even download MSIE, only a small setup exe that checks your sys 
to see what you have and upgrades that. 

I have Win XP, Pen4, 1.8GHz and 512RAM.
Your help may save my computer's life; I just might attack it!!!!
Thanks
Tucsonjim

To help you along your way to save your computer's life, here are some possible 
solutions.

There is a known bug with Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape-style Plug-Ins. If 
it is only .exe files that you can not download, then this IS the problem. In a 
posting on the newsgroup 
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.outlookexpress.wishlist, this problem 
is solved by doing the following:

"Remove the plugin with Regedit.exe
Start-Run-Regedit.exe
Navigate down to this key and remove it, after exporting it as a
normal safety precaution.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Plugins\Extension\.exe

If that key exists, then you will see what plugin has been installed.
(QuickTime by the looks of it and if so, I believe they have a fix)
The key does not normally exist."
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=uAWO4rkrBHA.2432%40tkmsftngp07

If the above solution is not your exact problem, then another solution, as you 
described yourself, may be to uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.26 and 
install either 6.0.26 or another version. Microsoft has a Knowledge Base 
article on "How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 6" and it is available at 
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q293907

Additionally, you may want to try to reinstall or fix the installation 
currently there. Microsoft also has a Knowledge Base article on this 
topic, "How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in 
Windows XP". Find it at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;Q318378

For clarification, when you say: "And if I click on an email address in my  
Outlook Express mailer MSIE will not respond to it but it will go there if I  
insert the address into the address bar." Do you really mean a web address in 
Outlook Express, not an email address? If it is an email address, then you may 
want to read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article "'Send To' and E-mail Links 
Do Not Work Using Outlook Express as Default" at 
http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306098

If none of these solutions save your computer's life, then please post a 
Request for Answer Clarification with your findings and any additional 
information that may help in the recovery of your computer.


Additional information:

Microsoft Product Support Services
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx

Microsoft Windows XP Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;winxp

Microsoft Internet Explorer Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;ie


Search terms used:
Internet Explorer 6 uninstall (search both Google and Google Groups)
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Internet+Explorer+6+uninstall
://www.google.com/search?q=Internet+Explorer+6+uninstall

Hi Researcher, I was able to solve my two problems by following the
leads you gave me, and I thank you for that. Both problems (links in
Outlook Express not responding in MSIE6 and MSIE6 unable to download)
were fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook Express and MSIE6
and then updating both.

Because of you my computer lives…it barely missed being subjected to
my wrath.
Good work!
Jim
PS: anytime I get a quick answer that fixes my problem, it's damn well
worth 5 big stars, and so that's what I gave you! I'd been struggling
with this bixxx for a long time, finally...phew.