Everything pauses when I connect!

[Guest]

When I connect to my 28.8k connection for the first time after switching on,
XP sort of pauses. I can open start menus and click on icons, and the cursor
changes to an egg timer for a while, but any programs do not load until 3
minutes later. Internet explorer also does this, any links I click will only
load until after 3 minutes.
I have updated all drivers, removed IE plugins, and virus/spyware checks are
clean.

My computer:

ASrock K7S8X Motherboard
AMD Athlon 2200+
384 MB RAM
Radeon 9600XT 256MB
Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200RPM
Intel 536EP V.92 Modem
Tesco internet access

Can anyone help? Has anyone else had a similar problem?

 

[Chuck]

When I connect to my 28.8k connection for the first time after switching on,
XP sort of pauses. I can open start menus and click on icons, and the cursor
changes to an egg timer for a while, but any programs do not load until 3
minutes later. Internet explorer also does this, any links I click will only
load until after 3 minutes.
I have updated all drivers, removed IE plugins, and virus/spyware checks are
clean.

My computer:

ASrock K7S8X Motherboard
AMD Athlon 2200+
384 MB RAM
Radeon 9600XT 256MB
Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200RPM
Intel 536EP V.92 Modem
Tesco internet access

Can anyone help? Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Do you by any chance use a Hosts file based bad website blocker?

How do you know your computer is spyware / virus free? What scans have you run,
and were they updated beforehand?

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Lorien]

What's your home page and how much information does it cover? With a slow
dialup connection, you may be getting stalled while the system tries to load
up your home page with all the bells and whistles. You might want to try
setting IE to not download pictures or video if your home page includes any
of that.

 

[Guest]

Do you by any chance use a Hosts file based bad website blocker?

How do you know your computer is spyware / virus free? What scans have you >run,
and were they updated beforehand?

I used several virus checkers too as I thought that might be the problem.
Norton, McAfee, even PC-Cillin, all updated and scanned but did not solve the
problem. Recently I have tried the Microsoft Anti-Spyware Program, but this
did not help either.

I DO use the content filer in windows internet properties actually, using
RSACi and Safe Surf rating services as well as Approved Sites and "Users can
see sites that have no rating". I will see if removing this fixes the
problem. Thanks.

What's your home page and how much information does it cover? With a slow
dialup connection, you may be getting stalled while the system tries to load
up your home page with all the bells and whistles. You might want to try
setting IE to not download pictures or video if your home page includes any
of that.

Home page is Google.com and my connection is pretty fast for dial-up once it
gets going! But I will try your suggestion. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Hey !

It tuned out SafeSurf was the problem. If you are familiar with this, it
installs a single file in your windows/system32 directory. Windows XP
obviously got very alarmed by a file from the internet installing itself into
this directory. In the properties of the file, it said somthing about windows
had quarantined the file, but I had the option to stop windows blocking it,
so i did, and now the internet connects fast, without any pause!

Thanks for all the help.