Strange behaviour of browser

A friend asked me for help but I have to confess I haven't got a clue this
time - I hope someone here can help.

She is finding that some websites are taking ages to load but others are
perfectly OK. She's using IE6 and is on AOL. I've cleared cookies, temp.
internet files, and history and her antivirus is up to date and scanned but
found nothing. I'm going to check for trojans and spyware next.

One example and something that is consistently repeatable is that if she
goes to Google.co.uk and selects pages from the UK, then enters "nrec" (not
sure of the significance of nrec [without the quotes]) into the search bar,
the results page takes about 30 to 45 seconds to load and the processor
useage goes up to 100%.

This happens every time we try it on her machine but, of course, doesn't
happen on mine. Any ideas anyone?

TIA,

John

only thing i can think of is maybe antispyware software struggling with it,
but i dont understand how.
run both adaware and spybotSD (both available as trial / freeware) and check
the processes to ensure nothing untoward running (google for each process
for explanation of what it does). if connecting through a router uninstall
all AOL software and set up another email client (outlook would do).
reboot the router (if she has one)
try another browser (firefox is my favorite, but opera also very good)

>"This happens every time we try it on her machine but, of course, doesn't
>happen on mine. Any ideas anyone?"
this your machine connected to her internet connection?

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:JrydnaWHqpnEYoDanZ2dnUVZ8s-(E-Mail Removed)...
>A friend asked me for help but I have to confess I haven't got a clue
>this time - I hope someone here can help.
>
> She is finding that some websites are taking ages to load but others
> are perfectly OK. She's using IE6 and is on AOL. I've cleared cookies,
> temp. internet files, and history and her antivirus is up to date and
> scanned but found nothing. I'm going to check for trojans and spyware
> next.
>
> One example and something that is consistently repeatable is that if
> she goes to Google.co.uk and selects pages from the UK, then enters
> "nrec" (not sure of the significance of nrec [without the quotes])
> into the search bar, the results page takes about 30 to 45 seconds to
> load and the processor useage goes up to 100%.
>
> This happens every time we try it on her machine but, of course,
> doesn't happen on mine. Any ideas anyone?
>
> TIA,
>
> John
>

John

When you say it doesn't happen on yours, is that your computer on her
connection ? Have you tried her computer elsewhere ?
Might be an MTU artefact. Try setting hers to 1400.

Eric

--
Remove the dross to contact me directly

"Eric Parker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:JrydnaWHqpnEYoDanZ2dnUVZ8s-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>A friend asked me for help but I have to confess I haven't got a clue this
>>time - I hope someone here can help.
>>
>> She is finding that some websites are taking ages to load but others are
>> perfectly OK. She's using IE6 and is on AOL. I've cleared cookies, temp.
>> internet files, and history and her antivirus is up to date and scanned
>> but found nothing. I'm going to check for trojans and spyware next.
>>
>> One example and something that is consistently repeatable is that if she
>> goes to Google.co.uk and selects pages from the UK, then enters "nrec"
>> (not sure of the significance of nrec [without the quotes]) into the
>> search bar, the results page takes about 30 to 45 seconds to load and the
>> processor useage goes up to 100%.
>>
>> This happens every time we try it on her machine but, of course, doesn't
>> happen on mine. Any ideas anyone?
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> John
>>
>
> John
>
> When you say it doesn't happen on yours, is that your computer on her
> connection ? Have you tried her computer elsewhere ?
> Might be an MTU artefact. Try setting hers to 1400.

Thanks both Tony and Eric, I'll have a go at your suggestions. And I was a
bit ambiguous there wasn't I? ) No, I actually meant that when I got
home and tried a search for nrec, my Google returned the search page in a
fraction of a second. I will take my laptop with me though, when I go next
time and see what happens.

Cheers,

John

John wrote:
<snip>
I get this at times with Virgin, Google homepage loads instantly, but
other pages partially load and then server not found. No idea why, after
a while it corrects itself!


--

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"Eric Parker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:JrydnaWHqpnEYoDanZ2dnUVZ8s-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>A friend asked me for help but I have to confess I haven't got a clue this
>>time - I hope someone here can help.
>>
>> She is finding that some websites are taking ages to load but others are
>> perfectly OK. She's using IE6 and is on AOL. I've cleared cookies, temp.
>> internet files, and history and her antivirus is up to date and scanned
>> but found nothing. I'm going to check for trojans and spyware next.
>>
>> One example and something that is consistently repeatable is that if she
>> goes to Google.co.uk and selects pages from the UK, then enters "nrec"
>> (not sure of the significance of nrec [without the quotes]) into the
>> search bar, the results page takes about 30 to 45 seconds to load and the
>> processor useage goes up to 100%.
>>
>> This happens every time we try it on her machine but, of course, doesn't
>> happen on mine. Any ideas anyone?
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> John
>>
>
> John
>
> When you say it doesn't happen on yours, is that your computer on her
> connection ? Have you tried her computer elsewhere ?
> Might be an MTU artefact. Try setting hers to 1400.

Well, I've been back to my friend's house and installed Trojan Remover and
the free versions of AdAware and SpyBot S&D. Trojan Remover found nothing,
AdAware found 1 tracking cookie problem and SpyBot found 1 alert (Windows
Firewall Bypass) - which were all sorted out but the problem remains.

On further investigation I found that websites entered into the proper
address bar of the browser come up OK but, if we then go to Google and enter
any search string into the search bar, the system hangs and bringing up the
task manager confirms "Internet Explorer is not responding" and I have to
manually end the task.

Any further ideas folks?

Cheers,

John

John wrote:

> "Eric Parker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>
> > When you say it doesn't happen on yours, is that your computer on her
> > connection ? Have you tried her computer elsewhere ?
> > Might be an MTU artefact. Try setting hers to 1400.
>
> Well, I've been back to my friend's house and installed Trojan Remover and
> the free versions of AdAware and SpyBot S&D. Trojan Remover found nothing,
> AdAware found 1 tracking cookie problem and SpyBot found 1 alert (Windows
> Firewall Bypass) - which were all sorted out but the problem remains.
>
> On further investigation I found that websites entered into the proper
> address bar of the browser come up OK but, if we then go to Google and enter
> any search string into the search bar, the system hangs and bringing up the
> task manager confirms "Internet Explorer is not responding" and I have to
> manually end the task.
>
> Any further ideas folks?

Have you tried installing another browser ?

Graham

"Eeyore" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> John wrote:
>
>> "Eric Parker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>>
>> > When you say it doesn't happen on yours, is that your computer on her
>> > connection ? Have you tried her computer elsewhere ?
>> > Might be an MTU artefact. Try setting hers to 1400.
>>
>> Well, I've been back to my friend's house and installed Trojan Remover
>> and
>> the free versions of AdAware and SpyBot S&D. Trojan Remover found
>> nothing,
>> AdAware found 1 tracking cookie problem and SpyBot found 1 alert (Windows
>> Firewall Bypass) - which were all sorted out but the problem remains.
>>
>> On further investigation I found that websites entered into the proper
>> address bar of the browser come up OK but, if we then go to Google and
>> enter
>> any search string into the search bar, the system hangs and bringing up
>> the
>> task manager confirms "Internet Explorer is not responding" and I have to
>> manually end the task.
>>
>> Any further ideas folks?
>
> Have you tried installing another browser ?

No, but I will do later tonight Graham - thanks for that (and why didn't I
think of that ))

John

could it be something to do with the windows hosts file? redirecting
googleadservices etc. to somewhere strange (maybe looping?) instead of
127.0.0.1?
maybe a stupid suggestion, if it is i'll get my coat....

still think dump IE and try firefox, then at least find if its a browser
issue, and eric's suggestion of changing maxmtu may also help

"we are the robots" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:LTrTi.23119$(E-Mail Removed)...
> John wrote:
> <snip>
> I get this at times with Virgin, Google homepage loads instantly, but
> other pages partially load and then server not found. No idea why, after a
> while it corrects itself!

Success! Brought the machine home with me yesterday because it was running
slowly in general and I wasn't happy that the browser and Google issue was
all that was wrong with it.

Using Memtest86+ proved the RAM to be OK, so I then used a SMART viewer and
discovered that the hard drive has two TEC (Threshold Exceed Condition)
errors on it. This was confirmed using #1 TuffTest Pro when, on doing a
Surface Analysis (Read/Verify) it had tested 22897 sectors with 11468
errors!

New hard drive called for, methinks. Thanks to all who replied.

John