Go to Control Panel, double click Internet Options, click the Programs Tab and then Manage add-ons on the bottom of the page, then disable any non Microsoft ActiveX controls.
Once you have done the above click on close, then OK then restart IE.
You can disable or enable plug in controls this way until you find the culprit that is causing IE to crash.
Thank you so much! I was having a different issue, I’m using Google Chrome and was finding that something called Shockwave kept crashing and jamming up my whole system. I’ve just disabled it following your instructions.