IE Momentarily Freezes at Launch

[Snowman88]

Hi all. I've noticed a strange problem and was wondering if anyone had any idea what might be causing it, or if it's normal. Occasionally when I open up internet explorer - I'd say one out of every three our four times -- the program will "freeze" for a few seconds, and I won't be able to type anything in the address bar, nor will anything appear on the browser. After a few seconds, it returns to normal and lets me type. Most other times when I open IE, this doesn't happen, the page displays immediately and I can type in the address bar right away.

Does anyone have any clue what might be causing this? I am running a Thinkpad T60 with Windows XP Pro, FYI.

Thanks so much.

 

[amdskip]

Is this IE7? Do you have any spyware or add-ons installed?

 

[Snowman88]

Yes this is IE7. I have Symantec Antivirus 10.1.4 running and Windows Defender, though this problem existed before I installed Windows Defender.

Thanks

 

[sieistganzfett]

only time i saw IE locking up where you couldn't do anything in IE for seconds was on a computer that had a lot of viruses. the antivirus on that pc was out of date for months though, and got viruses through the internet. see if IE hangs for a few seconds in "safemode with networking" is the pc def. free of viruses, and didnt have any at all.

 

[imported_nocturne]

Seems like spyware is installed... you can always check in the options for the extras box that lists BHO's (not sure where it is, as I don't use IE).

 

[Snowman88]

Hello all, and thank you for the responses. This is a brand new machine, and thorough scans with up-to-date Norton AV and Windows Defender reveal no spyware or viruses. Any other ideas?

Thanks again

 

[sieistganzfett]

download and run hijackthis
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

did the pause of a few seconds occur in "safemode with networking"?

 

[Snowman88]

Hello - the pause does not occur in safemode or when I choose to open IE Explorer with no Add-ons. I will DL Hijack This and see if anything pops up. Is it easy to figure out if anything's going on by using Hijack this? I've never used it.

Thanks!

 

[kingtas]

Just Google highjack this. There are plenty of communities out there with the log gurus that will help you out.

 

[redbeard1]

Is IE set to look for a proxy server? Looking for one will cause a delay in finishing IE's launch.