Got a few ideas... First one is, get a quicker modem! 28.8 is a little slow these days, especially if you're browsing some graphics rich sites at the same time.<br><br>Next, disable Java in Netscape. This is notorious for causing Netscape to crash as soon as it gets a sniff of JAva on a web page. Disabling Java shouldn't affect your surfing too much, and will help in the long run.<br><br>Also, can you try using a different FTP tool to download a file and compare this with Netscape's performance? ie, command line <A HREF="ftp://FTP. " TARGET="_new">FTP. </A>; Download the same 1Mb+ file twice - once with Netscape, once with command line FTP - time how long it takes for each and compare the results. (You might want to do this a few times to get an accurate comparison.)<br><br>If command line FTP works better, try using that in preference to using Netscape. (You'll also avoid problems with half-downloaded files hanging around from Netscape crashes! ;^)<br><br>Also, try using Lynx to surf with. Do you *really* need to use Netscape? I've had similar problems to the ones you describe, and I tend to use Lynx to surf when I just need info, and switch to Netscape when I need the eye candy

You'll be amazed at how quickly things can download when you take out the graphics...<br><br>You could also try setting up a caching-nameserver on your box. This can be tricky, but most distributions come with pre-configured caching BIND servers. IP addresses will get cached locally and save Netscape from doing lots of expensive DNS lookups (which it seems to like to do at every opportunity... it even fires up a process called "dns-helper" that runs all the time.) I tried this on my Mandrake box, and it helped. Not massively, but there is a small difference.<br><br>On a final note, consider installing Apache and setting it up as a caching proxy. While you're at it set up the "mod_rewrite" module to filter out all those ad banners that can take forever to download. (Suggested new Doubleclick slogan: "We server a billion banners a day from three crusty servers that will slow down your surfing experience to a crawl" </whinge off>

There's details on doing this in April's Linux Journal, and I'm going to be trying this myself in the very near future.<br><br>Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on.