Won't connect to wireless after update saga

Hello,

2 wks. trying to figure out the Vista Microsoft automatic updates....3 of 3 then dies. Thanks to this site we got this figured out. Computer finally boots up (very, very slowly thought) we get all the icons, start button, clock, etc...........but even though the icon says we are connected we cannot get windows explorer to start. We've tried it a dz. times but just says "internet explorer by Dell" not responding.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Teri