Vista - Accessing web sites with IE

Hi, I'm very new to this so would appreciate any advice or help.
When I use IE (under Vista) it will access HTTPS(secure) sites but not HTTP sites.
Why? Are there some settings I need to alter.
I can access HTTP sites with Firefox

Niall

Hi, niallmccormick, and welcome to the forums.

Can you be more specific? Is here an error message you are encountering, either from IE or from another program? A screen shot would be helpful....

What happens when you first open IE?

To Johngalt,

Thanks for your reply.

I get error message: Internet Explorer cannot display the web page.
Most likely causes.
.You are not connected to the internet
.The website is encountering problems.
.There might be a typing error in the address

When I press diagnose connection problems, it reports "the site I want" is not setup to establish a connection on port "WorldWideWeb service (HTTP) on this computer.

I have checked the HTTP proxy server address is 127.0.0.1 Port 5406 which is the same as Mozilla Firefox, through which I can access HTTP sites.

If in IE Iwant to access say my bank account which is HTTPS site, there is no problem.

Niall