I need some help. For about two weeks now, my Internet Explorer takes about 3 minutes to load. I have run spysweeper, Norton and even defragmented my hard drive to no avail. I had no viruses, had a few adware which i removed, cleaned my cache, and even tried changing the home page.

I am completely lost. Does anyone have any other suggestions or ideas?
Thanks

1- Start Internet Explorer, click tools, internet options, then click delete cookies, delete files (check offline too) and clear history, one at a time.

2- Then click Start, programs, accessories, system tools, and then click Disk Cleanup and check ALL the boxes displayed (may take a couple min's).

An additional thing you may want to do:

Remnants of an installation or patch are stored by Windows as temporary files, which can prevent the re-installation or starting of programs. These temporary files are normally created to temporarily store information in order to free memory for other purposes, or to act as a safety net to prevent data loss when a program performs certain functions. These temporary files however can trick an installation program into thinking that the propgram is already installed, or that a patch is installed when the patch has not been applied properly. Because this can cause complications, it may become necessary to delete these remnants to give your system a clean slate prior to launching or installing a piece of software. To delete your Windows temporary files, click on the link below for the operating system you are running:


To delete your Windows temporary files on Windows XP:

First you will need to delete the standard Windows temporary files:

Click on the Start button.
Click Run.
Type temp into the available text field and click OK.
Click on one of the files in the folder that just opened, and press Ctrl and A to select all of the files in this folder.
Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
When prompted if you are sure, choose Yes to All.

Next you will need to delete your specific logins temporary files:

Click on the Start button.
Click Run.

Type C:\Documents and Settings\<Insert login name here>\Local Settings\Temp in the available text field and click OK.

Note : Be sure to specify your Windows login without the greater than/less than symbols, in the bolded area above.
Click on one of the files in the folder that just opened, and press Ctrl and A to select all of the files in this folder.
Press the Delete key on your keyboard. You may get a warning about the Perflib file if it isn't 'hidden' as it is in use - say OK. Then change its' properties to hidden and do this again.


When prompted if you are sure, choose Yes to All.

ps: shouldn't post problems here - Storage and Networking would have been the place - this will get sent there I would think.

I'd like you to try something, just to satisfy some curiosity for me if you don't mind.

Open up your C drive, now in the address bar of it type in www.google.com or something and hit enter. Does it still take 3 minutes? Or is it instant?

CCT - Close. But it seems more like a Windows OS or Misc Software & Utilities to me, so I'm gonna toss it in Windows since it gets lots more traffic.

Wow! I tried what you said and put in www.google.com from my C drive and it did then open instantly! What does that mean now?

Upgrade to IE7, and make sure you have installed all the Microsoft critical updates. Since you are still running IE6, I assume you don't have automatic updates active, or you are running something other than XP, SP2

Not really sure what it means but I thought it would be interesting to figure out what happens since explorer and internet explorer are so intertwined. I'd just check for updates without getting IE 7 and see if that helps, if not then at least you know a workaround.

The reason I suggest not getting IE 7 is because it is quite a bit different from IE 6 in user interface and usability, and if you are prepared to make that sort of jump then you might as well switch to Opera because Opera is more similar in appearance and usability to IE 6 than IE 7 is to IE 6. And you'd get a more secure/customizable browser with lots more features.

Am I understanding that right?!? To me Opera looks more like IE7 in most aspects. But yes I would recommend switching to Opera as well.

Well IE 7 removed menus, Opera has them. IE 7 moved "important stuff" well over to the right where people aren't used to looking, Opera has them in the 'traditional' spots. IE 7 is ugly Opera is pretty.

Other than the "important" being moved over to the right of the screen. IE7, I think is a large improvement over IE6. But I still prefer Opera as well!

You can fix the problem by removing and then re-adding the Google toolbar.