This is the second time I’ve seen this…

ie 6 starts normally, it loads the home page (or another web page, if starting from a saved ie6 favorites shortcut.

But if you try clicking on a link, or try entering a url in the address bar, then ie6 doesn’t take you anywhere, and will usually max out the cpu at 100%.

At this point, very little can be done, until you kill ie6 via task manager, and then the cpu usage returns to normal.

I thought this might somehow be related to a spyware / BHO infection… but a scan only reveals some “low” priority infection…

I try firefox, and it works perfectly

I also try upgrading from ie6 to ie7, and that also fixed the problem.

Its possible that an infection corrupted something internal to ie6; and an upgrade, reinstallation, or a different browser fixes the problem.