Try Firebird (the browser) to see if it's an IE specific issue. What's missing in your post is whether you tested your DNS lookup time.
Bob
IE 6 SP1
Windows 2000 Pro, SP 4
High speed internet connection.
Physical firewall.
Software firewall.
Ethernet, not wireless.
Problem began after installing Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3 .
The following troubleshooting steps have been tried:
1. Sent email to Spybot - no reply in 5 days;
2. scanned for viruses at Panda & PC- Cillin, was well as locally with Norton;
3. disabled software firewall;
4. scanned for spyware with Spybot [ re-installed ], Ad-Aware & Pest Patrol; no malware detected;
5. repaired IE;
6. uninstalled IE;
7. cleared history, cookies, temporary internet files;
8. checked speed at www.dslreports.com/speedtest . Download speed > 2.5 Mbps . Upload 250 kbps. These speeds are consistent with another PC on my LAN.
9. booted to safe mode;
10. shutdown PC. Restarted PC.
11. compared loading time of specific web pages on problem PC & unaffected PC. Loading times on problem PC are in the range of 45 seconds to 2 minutes. Loading times on unaffected PC are in the range of 5 to 15 seconds.
Thanks for your help.

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