Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[rdeyoungaia]

I upgraded to NIS 2012 on my new Dell Lattitude laptop.  When I am on my home network, the first instance of IE9 that I try to open takes 30 seconds to open.  Once an instance is open, and kept open, I can open another tab or another instance with no delay at all.  If I close all instances of IE, and then try to open a new one, it too takes 30 seconds.  My network is all at the trusted level.

At work, the same laptop opens IE9 first time every time very quickly.

I am really at a loss as to what might cause this strange behavior only on my home network.

Thanks for any help.

 ....Rich

[lmacri Super Phishing Phryer]

Hi rdeyoungia:

When you're at home are you using a different Internet Service Provider (ISP), Internet connection speed, brand of router, etc.?  Is there a second firewall that your IE9 has to connect through (e.g., on your home router or ISP servers) when you're at home that would slow down the load of your home page when your IE9 browser opens?  Does you IE browser load the same home (start) page at home and work?

This likely has something to do with connection speeds or a second firewall between your PC and the web server that loads your home page, but try changing your browser home page to a blank page (Tools | Internet Options | General | Home Page | Use Blank | Apply) and see if your browser opens faster at home when it's first started.  If that works, try something generic like Google (http://www.google.com) for your home page and see if it still takes 30 seconds to load your IE browser.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

[Atomic_Blast Super Spam Squasher Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

Hi rdeyoungia:

Quick question...

Are you using a Software VPN at home to connect for business?

That can do it, too.

Atomic_Blast :)

[rdeyoungaia]

First of all, just to be clear, I am using the same laptop at home and the office.

Yes, the ISP is different at home and work.  Yes, I have a different Cisco router at home using NAT, but no firewall.  Yes, I load the same home page both places.  All of that said, I also have two desktops at home that are set up the same with same start page, etc. that do not show the behavior of loading slowly, so it shouldn't be the router or ISP that is causing the problem or the other PC's should exhibit the same behavior.  Also, once I have openned a web page on the laptop at home, I can open additional webpages and/or new instances of IE9 with NO slow down.

Changing the home page had no affect.

[rdeyoungaia]

The behavior is the same at home whether or not I am connected to the office via Cisco VPN.  I have tested it both disconnected and connected, no difference.

[lmacri Super Phishing Phryer]

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rdeyoungaia wrote:

Changing the home page had no affect.

---

I assume you mean that IE9 still loads slowly at home on your laptop even when you use a blank home page.  If you just tried a different home page that also has graphics (e.g., Google) see the Microsoft Support article here and check to see if the video adapter in your laptop supports GPU hardware acceleration.

If you have a video adapter in your laptop that supports GPU hardware rendering, check to make sure the driver for your video adapter is up-to-date.  Try runnning an inital check from the Windows Device Manager (search for "device manager" from the Windows Start button, scroll down to the Display Adapters section and double-click on the name of your adapter to open the properties).

If your video adapter doesn't seem to be the problem, try clearing the browsing history in IE9 (Tools | Delete Browsing History | Delete) on the laptop.  Ensure all items like cookies, temporary Internet files, etc. are cleared from the cache.

And if clearing your browsing history doesn't work, try resetting your NIS Smart Firewall back to its factory defaults (in NIS 2011, it's Settings | Network Settings | Smart Firewall | Advanced Settings | Configure | Firewall Reset | Reset).  Just be aware that this will delete all customized exceptions and settings you've created for your firewall.

If none of the above suggestions work, please explain further why you feel that the NIS 2012 on your laptop is the issue, and not some other difference in browser/network adapter/Windows OS/etc. between your laptop and two desktops.  For example, are you using different security software on your desktops that makes you suspect the NIS 2012 on your laptop is the culprit?

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

[Atomic_Blast Super Spam Squasher Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

Hi rdeyoungaia:

If the suggestions by Imacri don't work, restart the computer, open Task Manager and then the website in question.

See if there is any process which might be taking up too much CPU time, as the website begins to load.

Let us know what your results are.

Thanks,

Atomic_Blast :)

[lmacri Super Phishing Phryer]

Hi rdeyoungaia:

If any of our previous suggestions haven't helped, please see the Microsoft IE blog article here and read the sections titled Problem: Crashes or Hangs and Problem: IE is Slow to Start.  The MS Support article here titled Is Internet Explorer Slow? Five Things to Try also has some good troubleshooting tips.

In most cases a slow load of the IE browser is caused by a browser add-on that is either out-of-date or incorrectly installed, or that performs a connection to a web server at the initial browser load (e.g., a toolbar that automatically checks the manufacturer's site for updates).  If you use different add-ons (or even different versions of the same add-on) on your laptop and desktops, this alone could explain why your IE browser loads slower on your laptop.  

I would try the following tests with your browser first, since it's possible that your slow browser load is caused by the SmartScreen Filter or a faulty browser extension (e.g., Norton Identity Safe toolbar, Java plug-in, Apple QuickTime object, etc.).  

1. Disable the IE SmartScreen Filter (Tools | Smart Screen Filter | Turn Off Smart Screen Filter...) and re-start IE, since this IE feature can sometimes intefere with the Smart Web features in NIS.
2. Disable all Symantec add-ons from Tools | Manage Add-ons (see screenshot below - add-ons shown are for NIS 2011).  If IE loads quickly, re-enable each Symantec add-on one-by-one until you have found the specific add-on causing the problem.
3. Start your IE browser with no add-ons [in Vista it's Start | All Programs | Accesssories | System Tools | Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)].  If IE loads quickly, disable all add-ons and then begin re-enabling add-ons (individually or in groups) until you have found the faulty add-on.

Please note that a long Load Time is sometimes a sign of a problem add-on.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

[rdeyoungaia · Accepted solution]

OK, one of your references nailed it!  I disabled the Lan Settings and it works fine now!

Thanks,
 ...Rich

You can see whether or not Internet Explorer is configured to Automatically Detect Settings by clicking Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings. If you uncheck the checkbox, the WPAD feature is disabled. Internet Explorer includes an optimization such that, if the very first time WPAD runs, a proxy isn’t found, WPAD is auto-disabled, but this is mostly only useful for machines that are only used at home. If you move your computer between networks (e.g. a laptop) you may have WPAD enabled.

[rdeyoungaia]

One final observation/question.  My desktops at home are configured to allow automatic detection and they work fine.  Why would the laptop need it disabled?