Fix: Internet Explorer 7 is stuck at the first run welcome page
Sometimes IE7 will be stuck at the Welcome page (http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx ) that appears the first time IE7 is run. Attempts to revert to the normal home page may fail:
Some possible causes of this problem are:
1) The Welcome page does not load completely for whatever reason.
2) Scripting has been disabled (note: blocking ActiveX does not cause this problem)
In such circumstances, the DWORD "RunOnceHasShown" may not be created in the following registry key, or it may not be set to a value of 1.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceHasShown
If your system is stuck at the initial IE7 welcome page, shut down IE, check for the existence of the RunOnceHasShown DWORD and set it to a value of 1.
Also, ensure that the following key is set to 1:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceComplete
Also make sure you have disabled anything that may prevent IE from writing to the registry such as anti-malware applications:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/10/11/IE7-Installation-and-Anti_2D00_Malware-Applications.aspx