Weird Intermittent Problem with IE ICON/program start

[chris57]

I am running 98 SE. When I click on the Internet Explorer ICON (5.5 latest SP), the browser window does not appear for about 20-30 seconds (sometimes longer). Other times the browser window pops right up. When the browser window does come up, it is OK. It is starting to happen more often than not now. Any ideas?

When I was waiting for the browser window to appear, I hit Outlook - it hung too. I'm not sure if that additional info is worth anything but Outlook runs OK otherwise. I only tried starting Outlook once when I was waiting for the browser window to appear.

I have asked this question in another forum and got the recommendation to run ad-aware software which I will do this evening. Does anyone have any additional ideas that I can try?

Thank you for your help.

 

[ski]

It could also be due to a problem with your ISP, or to Internet congestion, especially in your immediate area.

 

[Enkrypted]

You could also try to delete your temporary internet files and your Windows Temp folder files and see if that helps it at all...

 

[gargouille]

Ski and Enkrypted are giving good suggestions...but I'd run thru the things you installed in Windows...I had
System Monitor and System Resource Meter loading at startup...and they were dragging me down. Look for things you don't need or don't use and take them off.

Check to see how much cache you've allocated in IE (tools/Internet Options/temporary Internet Files/Settings.)

IF the cache is filling up...the system will be constantly deleting some and adding new ones...and could be slowing you down. Set it fairly high, 90 megs or so.

To flush it when you close IE...enable that option in the Advanced tab.

Graphics (as in Active Desktop) makes an almighty performance hit on the system...I turn it off to gain that in app performance.
Usually the ads are what're taking the most time to load...look into using a hosts file in the help menu.
It'll help you block the ads you see all the time...by stopping them from loading in the 1st place.
Flash in a website will tantalize you, too, and needs to be loaded before it can run...and that often takes more than just a little while. In fact the latest Flash update might speed up your surfing, too.