What version of IE are you running?

An obscure fact of IE is that it is used to run all windows on a system. If that goes out or acts wonky, then the entire system is affected. This began years ago when Microsoft integrated IE as version 2 when Win 95 was first released.

Have you tried System Restore yet? Note: You’ll need to disable avast! self-protection module first before running SR.

Once successful, re-enable SR. Another option is to uninstall and then re-install IE (Option available only if you have upgraded to the newest version) OR run IE without add-ons. If necessary, (disable) remove them all.

btw, Pondus is correct. I’d look at the above processes first. Not only should we adhere to the motto ‘to do no harm’, users should also. Be careful what you do here.

[EDIT:] added additional qualification