IE8 and Firefox 3.10 are both slow opening a webpage (http virus?)

How about opening another page, other than your favorite chat site. Are other sites opening faster?
But, yes, your system might be infected.

other pages open normally.

It could be the website?  May I ask what webpage?

Your system could be infected, but is this chatsite running java?  Could it be a java issue?  Running any proxy?

The fact that it's only one page, makes me think it's not a virus issue.  Normally you'd see it across multiple pages (especially if you do a lot of browsing).  Of course the keyword is normally as there are exceptions to just about everything.

the website is using adobe flash for sending and viewing webcams. I don't want to put the url here in public :)  1 is there a way that I can mail it you to in private ?

I'm trying UnhackMe now to find out more.

Well I wouldn't need to get to it.  The idea is to see if anybody else experiences the same issue.  Of course this appears to be a personnel thing so that probably scratches that idea.  Has the page ever loaded fast in XP?

yes it used to be normal. I also have some other suspicious problem with my XP, even though I installed it only 2 days ago. The dispay is corrupted when XP is starting up.
error-while-loading-XP-0.jpg

That seems almost like a hardware issue, although Windows 7 seem to be ok?

Does it do it everytime or every once in a while?  Have you tried safe mode?

If you think it's virus related you can try Combofix (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix).  You can also try malwarebytes or superantispyware.  


Another thought is... could Windows 7 be doing something with the Windows XP installation?  

Also that 2nd issue might be worth posting in a separate thread.

the display is normal when booting XP in safe mode. windows 7 boots just fine (but I don't know how to put 7 in /SOS mode)

I ran ComboFix, and it deleted 2 files. Rebooted, and then UnhackMe reported a rootkit, and found a file
D:\TEMP\CATCHME.SYS. UnhackMe said it was going to delete it at the next reboot,
but then the file couldn't be found.

Thanks a lot for your help btw :)

1.  Try running a chkdsk.   from a command prompt, run "chkdsk c: /f"  it will probably tell you it needs to run on the next reboot.   This will tell you if you have bad sectors on the hard drive and try to fix them.   I recommend being sure you have any data backed up, as if your drive is going bad, you could begin losing data at any time.

2.  With an XP CD that is slip-streamed to the latest service pack in the cd rom drive, run this from a command prompt.
"sfc /scannow".

that will reset all system files to the correct version for the service pack.  
then if necessary, try over the top install of IE 7 again.

3.  try deleting files in the following directories (this will manually clear temp files, cookies, etc...)
del "%userprofile%\local settings\temp\*.*" /q /s
del "%userprofile%\local settings\temporary internet files\*.*" /q /s
del "%systemroot%\temp\*.*" /q /s
Excesive temp files will slow down and XP system, and clearing them through internet explorer often leaves some of them behind over time.

4.  run a defrag.  

Correction.  since you're using IE 8 and firefox,  you would reload them where I stated "try over the top install of IE 7 again".

I suggest deleting the temp files and running the chkdsk first.  

I gave up. I used my original XP-SP2 CD instead of the slipstreamed XP-SP3 CD.
The problems are gone now.

Thanks for your help guys !

can you confirm what the final solution was?   did you run SFC /scannow to restore your system files?  
if you used an sp2 CD, you should finish it off by running windows update to get SP3 back on your system.

How did you go about reinstalling everything.   Can you indicate an accepted answer?