I have had windows xp for several months now, and havent had a problem with it till now. Recently, i have noticed that when i try to open a link on a web page that opens a new window, all i get is a blank new window, and the link never opens no matter how long i wait. Being that i have windows xp, with it having the newest version of internet explorer, i cannot uninstall and reinstall it. I have tried to uninstall AOL, and install different version, the problem still occured and all versions; going to the microsoft support site, where i found a fix for the problem, i tried it sveral times but it failed to work; i have even tried netscape, which does allow me to open the links that open new windows, personally i would perfer not to use netscape and i love internet explorer. I have run out of ideas to try and any help that can be given would be greatly appreciated.
Additional information about my system:
pentium 3 750
up to date with the windows update site
no new program or system changes were made from the time i knew it worked to the time i noticed a problem that i am aware of.

And system restore does not have a date before the problem