Hello,
I am having a difficult time with my IE. If I am at my homepage it doesnt let me search, rather I get a "can't find server/DNS error" page. I found that if I write the address in the addy bar I get the site. The most troubling thing is that when I DC on the explorer icon, it takes 4-5 min.s to get a homepage. The explorer bar says "detecting proxy settings" the whole time. Yet if, while waiting, I write the addy in the address bar it still takes awile for the page to show up. The windows media player once I am online takes forever to connect as well. Did I inadvertanly change some setting (w/wo help from any others)???

I'm no expert but it sounds maybe like you are trying to connect through a proxy server. Under Tools->Internet Options, go to Connections and see if under Settings for your connection, "use proxy server" is enabled.

[ 10-08-2003, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

A couple of thoughts...

... check your search page in your IE options. Make sure it's the search page you want (yahoo, Google, MS, etc.) and not something else. Because...

... some spyware will hijack your search page to something else on their servers. If they've been shut down, you could get this. Spybot S&D and Ad-aware are the gold standards... run 'em both, and they're both free. Google for 'em 'cause I don't have a link handy, or wait for someone else to add it [img]smile.gif[/img]

... Check your proxy settings as well to make sure you're using a valid proxy server. If you want one, that is. Your ISP may require it, and certain places I've been at required it, but for most surfing, I don't use one. That's found in IE options, connection, LAN settings, I think. Too lazy to click on the toolbar up top here... :D

... if that doesn't work, try pinging or tracerting your search page. Get an idea of how much traffic it takes to get there. If that doesn't mean anything to you, ask... or just fuhgeddaboutit. All it really gives me is confirmation I'm working or toast [img]smile.gif[/img]

if all else fails, are you under a firewall? sometimes it messes up the connection