Multiple refreshes?

I don't know if this is a problem with the comptuers I've been using or what the deal is; whenever I load up any page, front page, General Buzz, a topic, whatever, it takes at least 3 refreshes for me to actually get the page to load. I've even tested a couple of times on my home and work computers, and just let it go with just one click, and the page just sits there and never actually loads. I don't know if it's a problem with the ads or what, but since my membership expired, I figured I'd just accept the pop-ups and go on with it, but if I can't get pages to load without a minimum of 3 and as many as 7 or 8 refreshes sometimes, perhaps I just need to shell out the $20. Is this problem limited to me, or do other people have this problem?

Brett, I think you're infested with Spyware....:(

Really? It's not just one computer tho, same thing happens on 3 different computers (work, home, girlfriend's). Also, it's just this site that does it, other sites operate normally.

I've never paid attention before - how does one get rid of spyware?

Quit looking at porn! ;-)

I would start with downloading Ad-Aware, or Spybot. Happy hunting.

No problem here. Bandwidth has been steady as far back as the logs go.

What kind of connection do you have? Is this is the only site it happens on?

No problems here but I have had a few times where it loads and like, the news column stretches across the entire page or the most active threads take up one half of the page, weird distortions like that, but thats rare and is corrected with one refresh.

I've come across similar glitches. I can guarantee it's not a spyware issue. I think a lot of it has to do with the newer type of ads that try to load up on here... the ones that are the over-lay ads vs. the standard pop-up ads...

...I'll click on a topic, or even attempt to bring up the main page, and it'll just sit there sometimes with the title bar & the black background with "done" at the bottom. I have to refresh a couple of times (sometimes one time is efficient enough) to get the page to reload properly... but not until the page comes up with a over-lay ad. It seems to have been happening since you've introduced over-lay ads much more heavily than before. I don't think I ever remember over-lays... just regular pop-up ads. I will also get the occassional glitch where the main screen will be a little wide, due to an ad banner on the right side... but a refresh will take care of that. Again, this is also from my home computer, and various work computers... and I can guarantee it's not any form of spyware.

Yea, that's the kind of problem I'm having. I have noticed that when the pages do eventually come up, it's always an overlay ad (and frequently one whose "close" button has conveniently not loaded correctly, and I have to reload AGAIN to get it to go away so I can actually read the first few posts in a thread). It's that "Done" in the bottom corner I'm relying on too - maybe I'm just being impatient sometimes? Who knows, but good to hear someone else has the problem ... I'm really careful to avoid anything that might introduce spyware.

I *like* the suggestion re: overlay ads, that very well might be related since they also seem to be pretty new.

As far as totally avoiding spyware, if you're on the web AT ALL these days, you ARE susceptible to picking some up....100% protection isn't really a possibility, but the spyware hunters mentioned are VERY good at locating/removing. I don't surf ANY pron (I'm on a UF workstation), and I still attract spyware like crazy....

I do *occasionally* have the same problem P18 mentioned, but it goes away with the next re-load...

edit: If someone can locte those people who write Spyware programs, I'll throw 'em in the same boat with spammers and those who write virus code....and then sink that boat! ;)
*** Edited 10/22/2004 4:10:33 PM UTC by rollergator***

What browser are you using? If your not allready try Firefox. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

I'm probably just being a complete paranoid, but I don't trust the spyware "killers" - I've seen more people that do that then have more problems afterwards than less. I think they put on *more* spyware rather than delete it ...

Nope, good old Internet Explorer for me, and I sure as heck aint gonna fall for someone offering a "better" browser again - already got burned twice by Nutscrape; ate two computers, luckily that was back when I still knew enough about the things to swap out hard drives and other parts myself. Windows likes Internet Exlorer, so I like Internet Explorer.

Ad-Aware and Spybot both have backups in place, Ive been using them for 2-3 years and havent had a problem. If you dont trust them, at least try the free Google toolbar, it includes a pop up blocker that blocks 99% of adds (the aformentioned overlays still come up unfortunatly) that may fix your problem.

Firefox will seriously change the way you browse the web because of it's tabbed browsing. Its that good. And it renders web pages the right way, not Microsoft's way.

Oh, and no spyware or secruity holes etc.

Its good stuff.

I've used it - I hate the tabbed browsing. For me, it's counterintuitive.

I'm a web pro, I'm big on web standards, and I still use IE. I understand the shortcomings, but I just like it better than Firefox or Mozilla.

I guess I'm just not cool. :)

I use Firefox, and you'll not likely find any bigger Microsoft fanboy than me. I don't even care about tabbed browsing, I just like it better, and no I'm not exposed to the IE vulnerability of the week.

More counterintuitive than having a dozen windows open when you are using the same application?

No one said you were cool if you used Firefox, it was just a suggestion that would probably fix Impulse-ive's issue. If it isnt related to bandwidth.

Yeah, I never understood the way they push that tabbed browsing thing myself.

I don't see much difference between hitting the tabs in the browser or each window in the toolbar.

My love for IE isn't because it's a superior browser (I'm not that stupid), it's just a preference of what I like to use to drive, so to speak. If someone took the capabilities of Firefox and made it look and feel like IE, I'd probably be sold.

If for some reason I'm looking at 12 different web pages, then, yes, I'd rather have 12 windows open than one window with 12 windows ;) .

*** Edited 10/22/2004 8:14:58 PM UTC by Gemini***

Actually, I have FireFox looking just like IE in terms of the tools bars and menus. You can even do a favorites folder that pulls down like IE's "Links" folder to make it appear in the toolbar. Ctrl-Enter for a URL puts www. .com around a name, form field auto-complete works about the same, etc. If you saw a screenshot of both my IE and FireFox setups, they look exactly the same.