All you have to do with IE7 to get everything "like IE6" is click the "Tools" icon at the right and put a check by "Menu Bar." That will display the old "File Edit View Favorites Tools Help" bar from IE6. I don't know of a simple way to turn off the "new" toolbar (the Tab bar) with the funky icons, but displaying both only loses "one bar" of screen space.
Kendall -
Theoretically, a local computer clock that's too far wrong could cause the timestamp script error. The web standard allows a local clock error of a few decades so you'd have to not know what century you're in, but an isp - hers or yours - could truncate the offset value so that better accuracy is needed. With an older machine, or one that's only used rarely, one might suspect a dead (or just not adequately charged) "clock battery," but that usually gives lots of other symptoms.
In WinXP, if you double-click the "time" on the Start toolbar, at the right, you should find a tab for "Internet Time," and if the tab is there you should have a check in the "synchronize with" box. It doesn't make any real difference what site shows in the "Server" box, since they're all sufficiently accurate.
I suspect another reason in your case, but if it's available the machine should be allowed to keep its clock in step with the net so it's worth taking a look just on principle.