Joe,

Look in the registry for the value hkey_classes_root\internetexplorer.application it should be there and have a clsid and CurVer that matches up with a next entry of internetexplorer.application.1

Have you tried reinstalling IE?

>Follow-up: I ran the registry backup file generated by RegCLean, and now get a "Cannot find file specified" error when trying to instantiate the IE COM object. So, I must have nuked a file that IE is looking for.
>
>IE runs fine interactively, though??? What gives? How can I tell what IE is looking for when being instantiated COM-wise, or is there a way to make it open in "bare bones" mode? That would be preferable anyway, as I am just trying to automate a simple web site. Please help!