IE keeps refreshing

Hi there,

The OS is Windows XP x64 Prof.
IE version is: 8.0.6001.18702

I posted on the IE forum which turned out to be for Vista, hence I was
redirected by the moderator to this particular XP-group - I am guessing IE is
shipped in OS-specific versions only ...

Problem: IE v8 keeps refreshing
What pages: All pages I have so far visited. Including this forum.
How long did I have the IE installed: About 4 months - after fresh Windows
reinstall.
Windows Updates: All on automatic - nothing missed so far.
First noticed: I would say in the past 2 days.
Recent system changes: None, except a minor recommended security update two
days ago.

What I tried:
I reset IE to default settings from Tools-Options-Advanced. - same problem
The problem occurs even in
1. "Safe mode with networking".
2. Refresh is set to None
3. IE is started without Ad-ins

Most recent observation:
Things seem to be oddly linked to the mouse scroll-wheel.
Support - please pay attention to the following - looks strange - hope you
can replicate.
Any page will behave normally if I scroll with the side-bar.
If I scroll with the mouse wheel UP, the page does not seem to reset so often.
If I scroll with the wheel DOWN, the page resets - more pronounced if you
roll fast vs. one-step at a time.
On Yahoo news pages (or even on other very simple pages) the scroll causes
either refresh or it sends you back one page.

Important:
This same thing happens in both - the main window and when I am scrolling
the text inside the message I am writing ("Body") - the one related to the
Vista forum.
On this page (the Vista forum) a scroll triggers a warning - "You want to
leave this page - Are you sure" (not exact text but you get the point).

HOWEVER - this does not happen in the pop-up of the message body I am using
to post this message.

This is new and potentially important.

The issue is most definitely linked to the mouse scroll button.
To test I even make sure the mouse pointer is out of the scrollable screen
so that I do not hit any objects with a mouse-over event.

To be honest - if there is something wrong with my system the problem will
be not so surgically limited to the scroll button and IE.
If it was the scroll button (or drivers etc) the problem will occur in other
applications too - but the scroll works without problems there.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Hope you can help.

Many thanks.

P.S. I am expecting now a reply that this is for the XP x64 Pro group