Running W2K Sp4, IE6.0 Sp1 on Dimension 4300 Pentium

 

Just recently I've not been able to go to or logon to secure pages such as the ones for bill paying, dell support logon etc.  I get an error page saying "Page Cannot be Displayed".  One of the suggestions that is listed on this page is to check the encryption strength, which has always been 128.  When I checked "About" in IE, it now says Cipher strength 0-bit, with no update link next to it. 

 

So after searching MS support, I found a page to download the High Encryption pack, Encpack_Win2000_EN, for install.  It said in the notes to accept the agreement when that window popped up upon installing.  1) that agreement window never popped up 2) encpack seems to install, it asks me to restart my computer but Cipher strength is still at 0-bit after the computer is restarted.

 

I run McAfee, Ad-Aware and have Zone Pro firewall, all of which never interfered with accessing these pages in the past. (These are pages I access several times a month).  I have tried to access these pages with none of the security programmes running to no avail.

 

I tried to submit the question to MS, but they say since I have OEM software, I must use Dell.

 

I tried to uninstall IE, however in the Add/Remove Software in Control Panel, uninstalling is not an option.  I tried to "repair" it by re-installing IE again.  This did not work either.

 

Thank you very much for any help.