Browser problem: endless loading time

**The Wizard** · 01-21-2010, 00:58

Before I start, the following problem affects Firefox as much as it does IE7/8. In fact, Firefox gets it sooner than IE8, which is the main reason I still use the latter.

Anyhow, I'm having the following problem and have been having it for a while now. I'm browsing the Internet for a certain amount of time, anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple of hours. Suddenly, my browser will be loading a page, yet never succeed in actually loading it fully. I can wait for hours, and I bet it will still be loading. While loading, it says "Waiting for page..." like during the regular process, but never gets past that.

I have had this problem for a year or two now, but for most of that time it was relatively innocent and could be solved simply by closing the browser and re-opening it. However, somewhere in the beginning of last year, it got a lot more annoying. Closing it no longer solves the problem, for once re-opened the browser is stuck continually trying to load my homepage, once again with the "Waiting for page..." bit in the status bar. It's not like the whole program is frozen; I can still close the window.

The problem lies with the process, I think. I've tried using ctrl+alt+del to end the process, yet it's impossible. The Task Manager is unable to end the IExplorer.exe process (or the Firefox.exe process, for that matter). As an aside, the amount of memory being used by the processes once they freeze like this is large (>15 kB). The only thing that works now is to restart my whole system, and once the process is frozen, shutting down the computer can take up to 15 minutes.

It's very frustrating. I've searched for viruses and spyware with a variety of software (avast!, adAware, Spybot S&D, etc.), but nothing turned up. De-installing IE8 didn't work either. Do you guys know anything?

**pevergreen** · 01-21-2010, 01:28

Windows XP Service Pack 3?

Is it happening on another computer on that net connection (if there is one?)

**The Wizard** · 01-21-2010, 01:43

Oh, sorry: no, it's Windows Vista SP2. And I have not experienced the problem on my netbook (operating on XP SP3), using Firefox. I don't know about my mother (who is also on the connection), though...

I am connected to the Internet via a wireless router.

**pevergreen** · 01-21-2010, 02:02

(just to further clarify)

The router has a landline connection, but is wireless enabled, its not a router with a dongle plugged in?

**The Wizard** · 01-21-2010, 02:31

Not entirely sure what you mean, but I assume it's the following: we use it to recieve wirelessly what we would otherwise need cables for. It's plugged into a cable modem.

**pevergreen** · 01-21-2010, 02:45

Routers exist like this:

You plug a wireless dongle into it, then it sends out wireless to computers.

You've just got a wireless router, your net connection comes from the street.

Does where you are in relation to the router have any effect?