Windows XP Problems. Virus?

Well, I'm doing this for a friend who has Windows XP. His computer was working fine one night, but the next morning he wasn't able to access Internet Explorer or get into files like My Computer or My Control Panel. He gets an error message each time he tries to open anything that says:

Error Signature
AppName: iexplore.exe AppVer: 6.0.2600.0
ModName: helper.ll Offset: 0006fbe1

It then goes on to give him information on how to report the error. He says he's sent the error report everytime he clicks on something, but that gets him nowhere. There's a link where he can click to view the technical information about the error report which takes him to a Windows XP help section that only tells him to update Windows. He's fully updated. Is there anything he can do? I'm not sure if this is a virus. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi TheHimmel,

Does your friend still have this problem? Do you have any new information to add about the problem?

Tom