Internet Explorer opens slow, with Road Runner Cable Modem

There's a patch from microsoft, something to do with a previous update/hotfix/service pack causing this in XP

slow app performance after the 811493 (MSO3-013) patch is installed on their Windows XP PCs:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819634

   Anothr tip -  alter these settings for LMHOSTS:
Network  Connections  > Right-click your main network connection, choose Properties > Double-click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" > Click Advanced button > Select WINS tab.
   The solution is to remove the check mark beside "Enable LMHOSTS lookup" on the WINS tab and/or "Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP." People report that the application slow-downs go away.


Also try disabling Indexing Services - it really slows stuff down.... unless you have a gargantuan drive that you search a lot
http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/display.asp?id=1335
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

I agree with bhamman in that the cause is most likely Spyware running on your system...   dnload and install Spybot from his link and make sure you run the update feature before scanning the system..  I also advise that you boot to safe mode (F8 at startup) before you run the scan.

Additionally, since you are using XP, open you system config utility and stop all the programs that automate on startup..

Do this:

Start > Run > msconfig (ok)  

Then go to your Startup tab, and disable anything in there that is not required.  Usually the only thing I allow to be run here is my AntiVirus software, so if you are using Norton, allow Symantec references to be run only..

Also, we may have to edit your host file too...  Spyware has a habit of placing references there that redirect your browser to locations that you do not want to go..

What is the Hosts file

http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

To locate existing hosts file on your computer:

c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

You can open it in Notepad, and ck to see if there are any other entries there OTHER than the " localhost 127.0.0.1" entry..

If there are, then we need to delete these...

In other words, your host file should look something like this:

# Copyright (c) 1998 Microsoft Corp.
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP stack for Windows98
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
# For example:
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost