IE6 doesnt work

When I click on my desktop icon for Interent Explorer, I get the hour glass symbol in place of the cursor for about 2 seconds and then nothing happens. I have not been able to access IE for about 2 months and do not know why. I have Windows Xp. Also, when I click properties on the IE icon, I keep getting a homepage address that I do not want- when I try to reset it and use " blank" the home page address I dont want keeps coming up and never changes. I can use my AOL browser, but it doesnt work when I try to retrieve message from other AOL accounts- Aol people said its probablyl the ie browser problem but they never really helped me to fix it. Any suggestions?