Help with navigating the MS web-site

This may be a little heretical, but I'd suggest you install an alternative browser and see how you get on then. It could be that the problem is upstream of your network connection. Are you connecting to the internet directly? Do you know if your ISP uses a proxy (for example Satellite broadband connection are often fed through a proxy server). Trying an alternative browser will at least tell you if this is a connection problem or an IE setup problem.