Loading of web pages hangs; refresh/reload often required

For months now, my IE has had a serious problem with loading pages completely and quickly. I've had high-speed cable service for several years and have not always had this problem. Pages of any but minimal size often are slow to load completely, or I lose patience and have to refresh the page to get everything downloaded in a reasonable (for broadband) amount of time. Despite the price I pay for broadband, I feel as if I've been thrown back into the Dark Ages of dial-up.

Can you advise where I might start to diagnose this problem?

Thx - Lisa

 

First, I'd try a different browser to see if the problem is with the connection, the hardware in the PC, or with IE itself. Try either FireFox or Opera. Here's the links:
Firefox: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Mozilla_Firefox_d2248.html
Opera: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Opera_d559.html
If these work fine, then we know the problem is with IE. So, give these a shot and let us know how it goes and we'll go from there.

 

I've had mixed results from switching to the other browsers, (I tried both) but oh! what nice features I've discovered in these alternatives! Page downloads do seem to be faster and more reliable for the most part, but some still hang. Since it's not likely that there are more sites out there that have "hang ups" than usual, either I still have a problem on my end, or ??? Overall, I am experiencing fewer hangs, though. Funny, but when I do use IE after using Firefox or Opera, it behaves better than it did before I tried these. I don't know whether that has any significance.

I have a little tray utility I've used for a long time that monitors memory usage. The mem level sometimes goes all over the map when I'm surfing, so I'm going to try adding more memory, but I don't think this is the whole of my problem at all. I used to surf so effortlessly, always!

 

You might want to try some basic maintenance to your PC. Cleaning junk files and internet temporary files can really help things along. Check this link for info: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=106650 In addition to that, check this out for TCP/IP 'tune up' : http://www.majorgeeks.com/XP_TCPIP_Repair_d4521.html and maybe try Dial-A-Fix (check everything in the registration center & in the SSL section) : http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4899.html It might not hurt to reinstall your ethernet drivers; check the device manager under Network Adapters for make and model, visit their website, and get the newest driver available.