I can assure you: it's not a unique problem.

On the contrary, it happens a lot, especially with IE 6.0.

First, try setting IE5 as your default browser. Go to IE tools/internet options/programs and turn on the check box for IE to check if it is the default browser. Shut down and restart IE. When it asks to be default browser, say yes.

If no joy, try repairing IE, if you have that option available: Description of the Internet Explorer Repair Tool

If you don't, do this:

Go to Start - Run (type each line below separately, then press OK)

regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Urlmon.dll

Note: you should see a brief message after each entry.
Reboot and test IE - New Window, repost with your results.

Some (and this does refer to Windows 98 only) have reported that reverting back to an older oleaut32.dll version from their CD did the trick.

So, my next advice would be to restore Oleaut32.dll from your Windows CD-ROM with System File Checker: How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files

Good luck,