Vista Internet Explorer/Windows Explorer shortcut problem

When I start Internet Explorer 7 from an internet shortcut on the
desktop, Windows Explorer hangs and I get a "Windows Explorer is not
responding" dialog box. If I start IE from its icon and subsequently
select the same desktop shortcut, everything is fine. If I change the
default browser to something like Opera, the desktop shortcuts work
fine.

In Internet Explorer I have disabled all Add-ons and third-party
browser extensions, and neither has helped . I am running Vista
Ultimate 32bit.

Any ideas other than breaking out the OEM disks and doing as repair
installation of IE? This has been a subtle problem for awhile, so I
do not have an easy restore point to go back to.