Links in programs take forever to open browser

[d d]

Hi,

This doesn't happen all the time, but does happen A LOT.

I can be in a program other than IE, for example
Outlook, Outlook Express, an RSS reader, some
other software that offers a link to a website. What
should happen is that when I click on this link, it
opens Internet Explorer (my default browser). Half
the time this happens immediately, the other half of
the time it takes about 30 seconds before it opens.
During this time, the program that is trying to open
the browser is locked up (clearly it's a blocking call).

I assume my default browser and filetype settings are
correct. If they weren't then why would it work just
fine half of the time.

Note : when I look in the Task Manager during this
30 second dead-time while waiting for IE to open, the
System Idle process will usually be at 99% and I'll hear
no disk thrashing. It really is as if it's in a timeout waiting
for something to happen.

I'd heard that this could be related to Norton AntiVirus
so I switched to McAfee a few months ago. It made no
difference.

 

[Rock]

Hi,

This doesn't happen all the time, but does happen A LOT.

I can be in a program other than IE, for example
Outlook, Outlook Express, an RSS reader, some
other software that offers a link to a website. What
should happen is that when I click on this link, it
opens Internet Explorer (my default browser). Half
the time this happens immediately, the other half of
the time it takes about 30 seconds before it opens.
During this time, the program that is trying to open
the browser is locked up (clearly it's a blocking call).

I assume my default browser and filetype settings are
correct. If they weren't then why would it work just
fine half of the time.

Note : when I look in the Task Manager during this
30 second dead-time while waiting for IE to open, the
System Idle process will usually be at 99% and I'll hear
no disk thrashing. It really is as if it's in a timeout waiting
for something to happen.

I'd heard that this could be related to Norton AntiVirus
so I switched to McAfee a few months ago. It made no
difference.

I don't know what the cause of the problem is or the solution, but switching
from NAV to McAfee is going from one evil to another evil. Both are
resource hogs and can cause problems sooner or later.

I recommend Avast as a free AV, or for paid go with NOD32 or Kaspersky.

I don't know if that will resolve this problem but it will stand you in good
stead otherwise.

If you don't get any help here you might want to post to an internet
explorer newsgroup and specify what version of IE.
microsoft.public.windowsexplorer.general

 

[d d]

If you don't get any help here you might want to post to an internet
explorer newsgroup and specify what version of IE.
microsoft.public.windowsexplorer.general

Thanks Rock. I was thinking it's more of an XP problem than
an Internet Explorer problem, I'll try over there too though.

~dd

 

[Rock]

"Rock" wrote

Thanks Rock. I was thinking it's more of an XP problem than
an Internet Explorer problem, I'll try over there too though.

Ok, you may get a reply here but that covers both bases. Good luck.