Anyone any ideas about where I can find the full install file for IE6? The setup file of about 500Kb is no good because the system does not have ISP access until I have installed IE6.

Don't worry - found the instructions on
http://www.updatexp.com/free.html
really useful if you want to delpoy IE6 or 7 across multiple PCs and/or you do not have DSL or cable on them all.
Can someone mark this thread as solved please?

Do you realize that if you use a Windows operating system that IE is bundled as a Windows Component? It can be found in:

Control Panel> Add/Remove Programs> Add/Remove Windows components on the left.

And if you have IE7 and want to go back to IE6, just uninstall IE7 in the Control Panel, Main section.

Thanks Bobbye - the reality was this is a rebuild of an ancient laptop with 98SE on it which had IE5. In order to get a wireless NIC to work, the NIC software insisted on IE6 so I had to go forwards, not backwards! It worked in the end.

been there done that
did slipstream back in the W98 days
I hate software co's that shove IE down your throat to get drivers or just to run
found in most cases you can unpack and do manual search for inf files cat files

Understand, Albert.

After all that the the PCMCIA slot in the laptop got hot and smelly and then killed the thing altogether. Complete waste of time!
thanks to all for the experience!