That's very odd.
At this point I would recommend two or three things.
1)
I'm still not convinced it's NOT a virus/malware.
Open IE, go to the Tools menu and choose "manage addons". In the toolbars and extensions on the left side, disable ALL addons by clicking on them one by one and choosing Disable. Restart IE and check for problem.
Go to
www.malwarebytes.org and download the latest version. Install and update it, and run a quick scan. (Quick Scan is sufficient). Remove anything it finds by closing a white notepad window if it opens, and if not or after you close it, make sure you remove anything it finds.
Also, go to
www.surfright.nl and download Hitman Pro (32 or 64 bit depending on what you have). Open it, when presented with an agree screen, click agree, then choose "one time scan" in the next window. Then scan the system. If it finds anything, click next, then click "Activate free license", and then click ok and next and it should remove the viruses. Then if it asks to reboot, do so.
2)
Now it's time to clean up and repair Windows.
Go to the start menu, and in the search box type "cmd" (without quotes). Right click on cmd and choose Run as administrator.
At the black box, type "sfc /scannow" (without quotes). Press enter. This will do a check to see if Windows is missing certain services or registry keys. This is NOT an in depth repair but can fix most things.
Check for problem.
3)
You at this point (provided you've completed step 1 and 2) have two options if you are still having trouble. You can reinstall Windows (from recovery provided with the PC), OR proceed to get help. Either with a local computer shop, OR from remote access. I do offer remote help for people if they are interested. Basically you download a program (Teamviewer), you run it, send me the number in an email/PM, and then I can see what the problem is and fix it, and then you delete the program and it isn't actually installed. I do this for free because I truly enjoy learning new things and fixing computers.
Other than that, I've tried everything I can think of without actually seeing it. I could recommend other things but I think they'd be hard to explain over text and could easily be messed up if not done right.
I'm having surgery tomorrow early afternoon, but should be home in the evening. Let me know how step 1 and 2 go and please let me know if you need help with remote support.