cannot find server or DNS error Internet EXplorer

Help! I have been trying to access my hotmail account all day and it keeps saying it cannot find server or DNS error on IE. I have called Dell 5 times today 2 I gave up after 1/2 hour and 3x was told to do something and it didn't work. I think what started the problem was downloading IE 5.5 and then after it was thru downloading it went to windows update and froze, I ended up having to reboot and never finished updating. So I went to windows updates and it tells me this..... tried to run product updat to get latest version & error came up. current settings prohibit running Activex controls on this page - page cannot display correctly. I have spent 10 hours trying to figure out someone please help me