Internet Explorer and MS Office troubles

About a week ago Internet Explorer started to slow down and then refused to start altogether. I tried the standard "restart" and started to get messages like "windows failed to restart". Suggesting that a recently installed program may be the culprit. If I try to open IE now the window comes up (blank) and then closes within a few seconds. Also I can no longer use the Office starter programs (I get "program not responding"). So far everything else seems to work OK...I am using Safari to get online right now. This is what I have tried so far to fix this...

System restore...there were limited restore points but I went back to just before automatic updates installed "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool". This seemed to work but then the system automatically went and updated again and the problem continued. I tried this several times but it never seemed to stick.

Booted in safe mode and went to "last known good configuration". No joy.

After reading a number of these forums tried the sfc /scannow trick (3 times, with a reboot after each)...each time, it said that the were no problems detected...still no joy.

Any advice would be appreciated. I am not very technical with this stuff but I am pretty good at doing what I'm told (at least thats what my wife says), so thanks for whatever help you can give.

PE

If you suspect that it is the update of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, redo the system restore (disconnect the internet temporarily) and turn the automatic update off - in Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update.

Then you "Hide" that update when it appears on the scene. For "hide" you right click on the update in the list of "available updates".

The next best thing I would recommend is to run a System Repair.