Apache & Internet Explorer problem?

I have apache running in Win32... for some reason, IE won't access it, but Netscape will...

before the problem was that i couldn't access it using IE and the address http://localhost (or http://my-machine-name or http://127.0.0.1)... the only way i could access it with IE was using http://my-ip-address

netscape on the otherhand would have no problem accessing apache at all... any address would work...

as of recent, i can't even access apache with internet explorer AT ALL... even http://my-ip-address returns a 500 Internal Server error.

Someone's told me that localhost was a Windows problem.. I'm wondering if anyone else out there has ever had experience with this and a suggestion of how to solve it?



*UPDATE*
i just noticed that with IE, when i type http://my-ip-address/sub-folder (without a filename or forwardslash at the end), THAT'S when i get the 500 error... if i put a forward slash at the end the page loads... strangest thing i've seen... (netscape works either way)

let me guess, your running behind a proxy?

If you are, you will need to change your prefrences in IE, to bypass the proxy when viewing local servers.

i'm fairly certain i'm not behind a proxy... i do run a software firewall, but I disable it when i'm testing a page

although just to be positive, how can i check if i'm behind a proxy?