Odd issue with Internet Explorer after Windows starts

[JMMD]

Got a friend with a Windows XP machine. Machine is a 1 year old Dell, dual core CPU, 4GB of RAM. They were complaining that it was slow so I went and took a look.

It wasn't really slow after Windows had time to settle but Internet Explorer was taking a while before you're able to browse or connect to any sites.

All other apps open fine right after logging into Windows but if you open IE, it just sits there saying "Connecting..." After a minute or two, IE is fine and running fast.

She's got NOD32 on the machine which seems to take a while to finish loading on startup so I thought maybe that was causing the issue. There's really nothing else running at startup other than the usual suspects, video control panel, sound, etc.

Any thoughts? Is NOD32 known to slow Windows at startup or slow IE while it's loading?

 

[raybay]

Yep. Could be NOD32, but it could be other setups or misconfigurations or clutter that NOD32 doesn't bother with.
One way to find out is to remove NOD32, and see what it does. You can re-install it after you have things straightened out.
You might want to use simple old programs like RegCleaner and Belarc Advisor....
Sometimes uninstalled software isn't really uninstalled... and is more like inactivated.
Have you considered using some system Tune Up Tools such as Registry Cleaner (CCleaner), Defraggler or UltraDefrag, Autoruns 10.01, Everest 2.20, or Speccy 1.02...
All of which can help you look at her computer, then be uninstalled later.
Some of these are helpful because they allow the owner to understand her computer visually.