>>>In this case would a complete re-install of IE solve it? Or is the integration so tight that the OS itself would have to be re-installed?
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>>Reinstalling the OS over the existing install and reapplying the patches seems to be more reliable than just reinstalling IE 4. If nothing else, some cleanup of the registry is going to take place that way, and there's no question as to exactly which patchset is in place.
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>Gotcha. So this way the computer gets straightened out w/o losing all the user's customization of desktop/applications, etc. Sort of like applying a SP.

It at least staightens out the base OS components; you still need to reapply the appropriate SPs to mnake sure that everything is kosher. It does get rid of a lot of excess baggage that may have built up from uninstalls and accidental deletions.