Question : Internet Explorer (IE) hangs for a few seconds after loading (executing) it. (450 points)

Hello,

May post this to the 'Networking' area too as I believe this problem is linked to it.

Network: 40 users - Dell Workstations/Servers running WinXP Pro & Win2003 Server. Latest OS updates via our Windows Update Server.

We are in the process of a few upgrades yet this may or may not be linked to our current problem. Obviously I have to take into account something may have gone amiss. All servers and workstations are free from viruses/spyware/adware etc. All workstations are image copies and have had their SID's changed. Perfect setup basically, never had any major issues for years.

The Issue

Some users on different workstations but not all are finding that when they load Internet Explorer (via Start Menu/Desktop/Quicklauch or indeed run command) it takes about 5 seconds before the IE Window even appears. This has not been the case before. 5 seconds may not seem a long time but should you browse a website and use links that require another IE window open then, as you can imagine, it is very annoying.

If logged in as an Administrator, IE loads instantly as it normally would do. Odd. The fact that it is fine under Admin rights and occurring on different machines kind of rules out any corruption within the software or system DLL's.

This has been happening for over a week now. For the past 3 days I have tried analyzing the problem starting with what has recently changed on our network regarding the current upgrades.

We have setup a new Domain Controller (DC) and transferred all the roles to it following MS's recommendation and also double checking with others. No problems there. We are also wiping clean an Exchange Server. In order to prevent downtime we have setup another server as a temporary Exchange server and moved across all mailboxes. This will allow us to 'swing' the data out and 'swing' the data back in once the server has been wiped and reinstalled. Why are we doing this? Simply because it needed it. It was our DC but have decided it best to separate Exchange from a domain controller. Old software needs to be removed and various hardware components need driver updates.

At present our new DC is live and operating fine and so is our temporary Exchange Server. Roles and data seem to have moved across with no problems.
The old DC/Exchange server has been wiped and Win2003 installed. As yet it is NOT part of the Domain, still installing drivers etc.

I have tried the following to determine what is causing IE to hang before loading.

It has nothing to do with Spyware/Adware/Viruses. Such things are very hard to get installed as we're very strict with Group Policies and Anti-Virus settings. In any case the workstations and servers have been checked.

Have setup a test workstation and created a test user account. The problem with IE occurs. Great! It means I can run tests.

Anti-Virus software uninstalled
XP SP2 Firewall OFF
Unneeded programs in the background closed
Server Anti-Virus disabled
Server firewall OFF (in fact doesn't start as it's a DC)

IE still hangs before it displays the window. Used FileMon and RegMon from Sysinternals and they don't really give too much away. Various files can't be found but these errors still occur when logged on as an Admin and yet IE starts instantly.
Checked the registry for any paths still relating back to our old servers which are now not present. Found a few paths so removed them. Still no change.

I disabled Group Policy for the test user and disabled any Group Policies for the workstation itself. No change.

Unplugged the network cable and loaded IE again as the Test user. IE loaded instantly showing a 'Cannot Display Page' (obviously as no network connection). This is an improvement. It shows that it could be related to the network. At first I had thought it was waiting for a response from an old server and after a timeout starts IE. However, cannot see anything in the registry?

Logged in as an Admin I disabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP. Bang! The problem has gone for the test user. IE starts instantly. Strange? All IP settings are being grabbed from our DHCP and are correct. IP's point to our DC which has DNS and WINS. The gateway is setup to our router.

All these settings are the same for everyone so can't be that as some users have no issue at all.

However, it is related to NetBIOS being active.

So, I put it back on and logged back in as test user.

IE hangs before displaying. Started up 'cmd' running as Admin but still logged in as test user with limited rights and then start IE. IE starts instantly.
Strange. Why would it start instantly under a user account but running with Administrator rights? Sounds like a permissions problem.

But we know it is also related to networking issues as disabling NetBIOS cures the problem. Now I am stuck.

I don't wish to have NetBIOS disabled because it used to be fine with it enabled. Need to find the cause of the problem and correct it rather than find a way around.

Please help!! Apologise for such a long post. Trying to type it all down as best I can.

Thanks!!

Answer : Internet Explorer (IE) hangs for a few seconds after loading (executing) it. (450 points)

Boyderama
I found this, don't know if it helps you or if you have already tried:
copied from this link http://www.fperkins.com/HowTofixIEloadingslow.html

HowTo fix IE loading slow
 
 I had this problem for about 6 months now and it was driving me crazy. I would launch IE and it would just HANG there for about 15+ seconds as if it was searching for something, then it would start loading the webpage. This fixes it:

From: http://members.aol.com/axcel216/newtip21.htm#MI5S6F

To do this, run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
Highlight the {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} Value and delete it: right-click on it -> select Delete -> click OK.

This Registry change takes effect immediately.
Just start MS IE while connected to the network/internet to see the difference. :)