Hmm, I actually didnt have internet explorer 8 but ill get that update now.
Please no firefox, its not ad free and its full of homophobic ad's, sorry.
I could try Opera or Maxthon if you think so.
Dafuq you talking about? Ad-Block Plus add-on to make it block ads. Ads are generated from the content YOU look at - that's how ads work nowadays. They get tailored according to the sites you visit.
Try FireFox and see if it works or not.
EDIT: Internet Explorer 8 does not support windows xp 32bit sp3, sorry.
Forgot IE8 isn't supported on XP. Make sure you have all updates for IE7, and like PP said, make sure you have Flash installed.