Member Avatar for roly93

I have had the following problem for over 2 years now and would love some new suggestions :-

When starting my IE6 Sp1, browsing via dialup sessions, or lately ADSL, works perfectly for about 5 minutes, but then my IE 'freezes' for about 1 minute, during which I cannot do anything with the browser window like clicking on any buttons etc, also, during this time, if I try to type a new URL into the address bar, each character is only added after a severe delay.

Then, all of a sudden, everything springs back into life and all is normal again, with good all round browsing performance.

Another interesting thing to note is that I can conect to my mail using Outlook Express6 during this 'frozen' period with no problems at all.

I have tried different modems, repairing my IE6 install, downloading all of the microsoft updates, totally rebuilding my machine from the hard-disc up, all to no avail.

My PC is a Compaq EVO P1200 with 384M Ram 80GiG HDD and win 98SE running. My PC is otherwise quite reliable and stable.

Finally, I have extensively scanned for Spyware and Viruses and everything should be spottless-clean.

HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS SORT OF PROBLEM ????

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by dlh6213

Dani AI

Generated

Quick recap of the situation from and : IE6 on Win98SE works for a few minutes and then the browser UI freezes for about a minute, while other mail traffic continues. That pattern commonly means something is blocking IE’s main thread (a browser helper object, toolbar or a program that hooks WinInet/Winsock), or there is intermittent network-related blocking that IE waits on synchronously. The following checks are ordered cheap-to-expensive so the root can be isolated quickly.

  • Quick isolation: start IE with extensions disabled.

    iexplore -extoff

    If freezes stop, focus on BHOs/toolbars/ActiveX. Disable or remove toolbars and search helpers (Tools → Internet Options → Programs → Manage Add-ons if available), and inspect this registry key for helper objects:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects

    Back up the registry before editing.

  • Check whether the problem is IE-specific: install another browser (Firefox/Opera or similar) and browse for 10–15 minutes. If the other browser is stable, keep investigating IE add-ons and extensions.

  • Watch behavior during a freeze: open a command prompt and ping the gateway and a public IP to see if packets still return. If ping replies are normal while IE is unresponsive, the network stack is likely fine and the problem is browser-side or a UI-blocking hook.

  • Clean boot and service isolation: disable nonessential startup items (msconfig or move items out of the Startup folder) and retest. Temporarily disable any antivirus/web-shield/firewall components and test again (re-enable them afterward).

  • Winsock/LSP and drivers: if multiple browsers stall, reinstall the TCP/IP protocol or update/reinstall the network adapter and modem drivers to remove corrupted LSP/Winsock hooks.

  • Advanced capture: if comfortable, capture network traffic with a packet sniffer to look for DNS retries or stalled TCP handshakes during the freeze.

If these steps don’t reveal the cause, collect (1) a list of installed toolbars/security products and (2) a HijackThis log and post them as suggested — those details make it possible to spot a problematic BHO or driver quickly.

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Member Avatar for dlh6213

It sounds to me like you have a number of programs set to auto-update whenever you connect. Auto-update would be good for your antivirus program if you don't think you can remember to do it manually, but most other things should either be set to update manually, or use Task Scheduler to have them update at different times.

Member Avatar for roly93

Thanks for the reply, but as far as I know, I have switched auto-update off everything, as I don't like stuff going on without my intervention !

Member Avatar for dlh6213

Thanks for the reply, but as far as I know, I have switched auto-update off everything, as I don't like stuff going on without my intervention !

Good idea! In that case, you may have some malware on your system that is doing it without your knowledge. Follow the suggestions in this thread:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread5690.html

If the problem doesn't go away, post a HijackThis log (explained in that thread) in the Security forum for some help identifying the problem.

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