What operating system are you using?
Just to check that IE is correctly connected, right click on the the IE icon, click on Properties, then click on the tab Connections, go down to the bottom of the box and click on the button Lan Settings and then put a check mark in the box to automatically detect settings. Click on the Ok's to get out. Then double click on IE to see if your home page comes up. If it doesn't type into the address box at the top something like
www.cnn.com to see if it will come up. Don't know what kind of server you are dealing with, but if a script is needed to logon, you will need to speak to IT.