Slow load time

[Vynd]

For many weeks now, perhaps even a few months, I've had a problem the very first time I view the main forum page each day. The page itself seems to load up just fine, but the banner advertisement stays blank. Everything slows to a crawl. Sometimes an item appears in my task bar at the bottom of the screen that says "Check Version." After about a minute that item disappears, Java starts, the banner ad loads, and everything goes back to normal.

If I leave the site and come back later in the day I rarely have this problem, although it does crop up occasionally. It only happens when I'm using my work computer, so I suspect the issue is at my end. But clearing my cookies and making sure Java is up-to-date haven't fixed it so I'm looking for other ideas. I'm using IE.

[Thunderfall]

Is that "Check version" message for Java? You could try disabling the version check to see if it helps... You can find the Java setting at the control panel.