PC Help - slow loading MSN &internet sites

[canadianvixen]

Hi, I'm hoping someone out there has more knowledge than I do about computers and can help me fix mine. I have a P4 with cable internet, which up until the past two weeks has been working at rocket speed. However for some reason two weeks ago all MSN sites won't load at all and all other internet sites are slow to load. Hotmail inparticular comes up with error messages and won't open at all. The reason I know it has to be something with my PC is that I'm on a network and everyone else is having no difficult with our internet access. Messenger is also working fine, but when I try to access hotmail through it I get the same error message. I have run norton antivirus and the pc is clean. I also defragged, used disk clean up and ran adware to get rid of any spyware (116 whoa) after all that there was no difference in the performance. MSN sites still don't load, hotmail still has errors and Ironworks (which loads the fastest) takes about 2 minutes to get the page fully loaded. Does anyone have an suggestions or has run into a similar problem? I would try and check out WinXP sites for FAQ and troublshooting help, but....well...they don't load.
Here's hoping someone can help.
A very frustrated Vixen.

[Animal]

At the same time as the problem started, did you install a new program or change any settings?

Do you have slow access to your network drives?

If you can access your network at the normal speed, then it's an IE issue.
If your network is as slow as your web connection, then 2 things. You have a network protocol issue, or the network card itself.

EDIT: What error messages is hotmail and MSN giving you?

[ 04-06-2003, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: Animal ]

[andrewas]

Get spybotSD from here:

http://security.kolla.de/

Its the same deal as adaware, but it catches a few that adaware dosent.

Other than that theres not much to say without knowing what kind of error messages your seeing.

[ 04-07-2003, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: andrewas ]

[Wulfere]

Believe it or not I had nearly the same trouble.
Have you emptied the Temporary Internet Files?
I know this sounds silly, but I had trouble once where
pages wouldn't load and others loaded very slowly and
the tech guy asked me that. I thought "You have got to be kidding".
But I went into IE, clicked on "Tools" then "Internet Options" and
on the "General" tab clicked the "Delete Files" and "Delete Cookies"
buttons and it worked! Seemed odd to me, but it is worth a try.
The deleted files are not needed. They are just stored on your
machine to make pages load faster.

[canadianvixen]

Originally posted by Animal: At the same time as the problem started, did you install a new program or change any settings? Do you have slow access to your network drives? If you can access your network at the normal speed, then it's an IE issue. If your network is as slow as your web connection, then 2 things. You have a network protocol issue, or the network card itself. EDIT: What error messages is hotmail and MSN giving you?

Thanks for replying Animal. How do I check my network speed. MSN pages just don't load period. The screen comes up white and it says it's done. Hotmail just keeps going in a loop. I enter my name and password, it sits around forever then at the bottom where it says: connecting to http:/hotmail...blah,blah blah it says error after it and another little screen pops up asking me to enter my name and password again or login under a different name. I get a white screen the entire time.

edit: The only thing that changed just prior to all this mishap is that I have automatic update to Win XP and it had just downloaded files. I have no idea what those files where though or where they were deposited.

[ 04-07-2003, 09:25 PM: Message edited by: canadianvixen ]

[canadianvixen]

Originally posted by Wulfere: Believe it or not I had nearly the same trouble. Have you emptied the Temporary Internet Files? I know this sounds silly, but I had trouble once where pages wouldn't load and others loaded very slowly and the tech guy asked me that. I thought "You have got to be kidding". But I went into IE, clicked on "Tools" then "Internet Options" and on the "General" tab clicked the "Delete Files" and "Delete Cookies" buttons and it worked! Seemed odd to me, but it is worth a try. The deleted files are not needed. They are just stored on your machine to make pages load faster.

Thanks for your suggestion Wulfere. I have tried deleteing all temp interenet files,and cookies and history. None have made any difference.

[canadianvixen]

BUMP. In case there are more suggestions? I hope? [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]

[Animal]

Try accessing a network drive or another computer on your LAN and transferring a file from one machine to yours. It should be quite fast.

It sounds like the automatic update MAY have caused you some grief. I'd suggest running the Network Setup Wizard. It should restore all of your network protocols to the default settings. Take the time to read every option carefully before choosing.

If you're using a router on your network to connect all the PC's to the internet make sure the router has assigned each PC a seperate IP. The IP should be something similiar to 192.168.0.x where x represents a number from 1 to 255 depending on the amount of PC's connected. No two PC's should have the same address.

Finally, you might want to call the support number for your Cable provider. These guys should be able to talk you through the necessary settings to ensure you are set up correctly.

Good Luck!