how come when i hit my internet explorer icon to go to my home page i now have 7 squares and 3 dots in my tray

Answer 1

OK - lets use the right terms. The tray is the area by your clock. The taskbar is the open area between your start button and your tray. I have no idea what you mean by squares or dots.

I assume you mean your taskbar is showing multiple instances of IE.

You must have a home page that gives you LOTS of popups, which means that you probably caught some malware opening bunches of sites at once. Your home page probably has been redirected, which is typical with some malware.

First item - clean your system using all of the below: (search the net for them)
superantispyware
adaware
spybot search & destroy

Next, if you dont have an antivirus, get the free home version of Avast.

Get winpatrol to control all startup programs, as well as warning you when your home page/services/HOSTS file/startup has been changed. You can deny the changes.

As always, make sure your computer is COMPLETELY up to date with Microsoft Update.

Keep all of the above programs up to date.

Reset ALL defaults in Internet Options (Control Panel)

Make sure firewall is ON and do NOT allow exceptions (in control panel)