slow loading web pages

[the blades]

help anyone....please

OK - I have 8 meg broadband with talktalk. I have a speedtester running and on average, my speed ranges between 3.5 and 4.5meg. I run zonealarm firewall and AVG free anti-virus (is this relevant?). I've defragmented my drives and cleaned them up using ccleaner. I've checked I don't have too many programs starting up using start-up inspector (thanks Jtrader . I run windows XP home and IE6.

My problem - I can surf the web free and easily over some websites - T2W being one of them. Others take an age to load, if ever. Examples of difficult sites are;

Yahoo
Collective2
Tesco
digitallook

I'm sure there's something wrong with my PC settings but don't know where to start to look.


Can anyone advise a technophobe?

Cheers,
UTB

 

[Trader333]

I suggest that you install Firefox and try surfing the same sites and see if there is a difference. In my view Firefox is much better and worth a try for comparison if nothing else.


Paul

 

[grantx]

Blades,

This may be a case of the blind leading the blind here. This may help (I haven't tried it - too complex for me/my patience).

http://www.prioritymaster.com

Grant.

 

[the blades]

I suggest that you install Firefox and try surfing the same sites and see if there is a difference. In my view Firefox is much better and worth a try for comparison if nothing else.


Paul

Paul - thanks and Grant,

thanks for the responses -

Paul - Firefox is an alternative but I have no problems with these websites from work using internet explorer on a much slower broadband speed. Hmmmm?

Grant - I'll look into your suggestion.

All other suggestions welcome.

Cheers,
UTB

 

[jezgw]

dont buy that scheduperformance stuff

search google for a stripped down or optimised registry file for the windows version you have and load it (after backing up your existing file)

a good registry will stop windows loading all the unneccesary stuff it loads anyway and mitigate against the accrual of the variuiuos progs you may have downloaded and possibly any spyware, malware you have

BTW zonealarm and AVG are not much good - try a managed service for security and backup

 

[SpreadBunny]

Switching to Firefox could be an option but if you are using IE, try clearing cache (Tools>Internet Options>Delete Files) and delete cookies(everything by Tools>Internet Options>Delete cookies OR manually selecting unwanted junk ones), close the IE down and try again.

It's also a good idea for you to run Spybot and clean up your pc from time to time.

 

[shadowninja]

Something that I find ruins websites is adverts. It's not that I can't ignore them. They are usually loaded from a separate server that probably has a hundred other big websites redirecting traffic to them, serving millions of visitors each, and so they are slow. Firefox has an Adblock plugin which means you can specify sites to ignore, thus your favourite sites run at the speed the web designer intended, not at the speed the web manager created!!!

 

[0007]

BTW zonealarm and AVG are not much good

Could you explain further please?

 

[JTrader]

virgin.net is also a nightmare in terms of sub standard speed regularly being a problem. I think broadband in general is just not as secure/dependable/smooth as what the BB companies would like you to believe.

 

[meghana_shru]

Blades,

Better install the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, with an extension called "FasterFox". This will improve your browsing speed compared to normal browsing...

 

[Tenapenny]

I use firefox and Zen as my isp and since using these have not had any problems. Zen by the way do monthly contracts so any major problems and I can switch without penalty.