Starting up in 'Safe mode with Network support' seems to bypass this problem and IE fuctions normally. Therefore some third party program is causing the problem.

Here is a little workaround that worked like a charm on severel other computers. Go to Control Panel, and double click Internet Options. Next, go to Advance Tab. Uncheck 'Enable third party browser extension'. Click OK. You might have to restart the computer.

If you have multiple profiles setup on your computer, you will have to do this for each profile. And if your home page has been changed to res://nshp.dll/index.html#37049, you can change this through the Control Panel, Internet Options as well.