Browser/ Slow To Load Home Page

[Pezzy]

Hi all.

I was originally going to post this over in the Microsoft Windows and Software forum, but have since discovered something else.

First: I have a fresh install of Windows 11 on my custom-built desktop system; barely a week old yet, installed this past Saturday, 12/11/21. And, with my previous Windows 10 OS, I did not perform an in-place upgrade: I put Windows 11 on a bootable USB and changed my BIOS's boot priority and did it from there. So, a fresh, clean, from-scratch install of Windows 11.

Overall, very nice; I like Windows 11 so far. But then I noticed something as far as Internet/ web browsers.

I am not loyal to any one browser; I switch around from Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Google Chrome. For all of those browsers, I have my homepage set to www.msn.com

Since having Windows 11 for roughly the past week, I noticed something: When I launch a web browser (any of the four I mentioned above), the browser itself launched right away, no problem there. However.....the home page itself? About 7 to 10 seconds goes by while the page remains blank, and then the home page finally loads.

There's no problem with my Internet connection itself. I have high-speed DSL. After my homepage finally launches and appears with whichever browser I'm using, if I go to another web site, BOOM, it loads instantly. If I go to, say, www.speedtest.net and run a speed test, I am getting between 80 and 85 Mbps.

But that initial launch of any of my web browsers: The browser window itself launches right away.....but there's that long 7 to 10 second gap before the home page loads. So, I thought this problem was unique to Windows 11, because just prior to this when I had Windows 10 (same hardware/ system), this issue did not happen.

I did a search on the 'Net for Win 11/ browser pages slow loading, and I did find this:

https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-11-common-problems-and-fixes#fix_network_windows11

There's a section in there for "How to fix Wi-Fi and Ethernet adapter problems on Windows 11". So, I thought maybe this was a "bug" that they have not worked out of Windows 11 yet and that will be addressed in a future patch. But then....

But then, I mentioned at the start of my post about I "discovered something else".

I'm sure a lot of you know what a VPN is. I have a VPN that I use when I want to download a certain something, or, go to a web site or watch a video that is region-restricted. And it's not one of those free VPN's, it's a paid one; the company is called Private Internet Access.

Some people have their VPN launched all the time (or even have it start when Windows boots), but I only manually launch it when I want to use it for a specific reason.

Well, here's what I discovered, and, it almost seems like a contradiction or counterintuitive:

I launch my VPN. My VPN let's you choose where you'd like your IP redirected to (I'm in Arizona, and I usually choose something like Nevada or California). So, my VPN is launched, and then I launch one of my web browsers, and my homepage? BOOM, it fills the browser window right away, there's no 7 to 10 second lag time.

To me, this seems a contradiction or counterintuitive because my IP is now technically "further away" than where I am actually at geographically.

So.....any ideas? Why do any of my browser's homepages take a while to load when I am not using my VPN and everything is "regular"? And then when the VPN is launched, BOOM, the homepages instantly fills the browser window?

As you probably know, when you install a VPN, it will install its own network adapter in your computer. I have a Gigabyte motherboard, the B450M DS3H V2. If I go to Device Manager/ Network Adapters, there is the embedded network card listed as "RealTek Gaming GbE Family Controller". But also listed in here is "Private Internet Access Network Adapter" from my VPN company I use.

I'm now leaning towards my issue not being a Windows 11 problem, but rather, a network adapter issue.

After my initial install of the Windows 11 OS last Saturday, I also installed my motherboard's drivers/ software, which included the LAN drivers.

Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks,
Pez

 

[Pezzy]

Wow.....I don't think I've ever had a time when I didn't receive any replies at all; usually somebody thinks of something to suggest. It made me so sad JK!!

Anyway......it took a while, but I discovered & found out the issue myself.

I was doing some general searches on the 'Net regarding my issue (home page slow to load after browser launches), and an article I came across mentioned some things like, Possible malware/ spyware; browser extension(s) interfering & slowing things down; etc. No, that wasn't it.

I had just done a fresh, clean install of Windows 11; I'm not saying malware/ spyware infection is impossible, just highly unlikely (but I did a scan anyway, no infections). And browser extensions? No, I have no extension add-ons in any of the browsers I use (Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Google Chrome ).

But then something else the author suggested in this article caught my eye even though I don't use one: Using a Proxy when connecting to the Internet.

Even though I don't use a proxy and have not set one up, I thought, Let me check and make sure all settings are copacetic. So I go to Settings/ Network & Internet/ Proxy: In here it says "Automatic proxy Setup. Use a proxy server for Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections. These settings don't apply to VPN connections." Then there is a part labeled "Automatically detect settings", and there is a slider switch for "Off" or "On". For whatever reason.....it was switched in the "On" position. Hmmmmm....

The only thing I can think of is, during the initial setup after I had installed Windows 11 from scratch, was that I had somehow inadvertently chosen this during one of the setup screens. After the Win 11 installation was done and I went through the setup screens (Language; keyboard; etc.) and I was at the desktop, I did not deliberately go into Settings and choose to put the Proxy in the "On" position.

So, in Proxy settings, I slid that slider switch into the "Off" position, launched a browser, and BOOM, my homepage fills the browser interface immediately; any of the browsers, ALL the browsers (Boy, in my original post and in this post, I sure like the word "BOOM" a lot!!).

Anyway, solved! Am sure glad that annoying 7 to 10 second delay is gone;
Pez

 

[PP Mguire]

Original post date is right before Christmas, probably bad timing. In any case, Windows 11 sucks and the network stack is half baked with them trying to get away from classic control panel. I have it on my work laptops and there are weird quirks that don't exist in 10 because 11 still needs to be fleshed out for at least a year. There is no advantage of moving to 11 over 10, it's almost the same except a UI uplift. If you can call it that.

 

[petergroft29]

REMOVE UNWANTED BROWSER EXTENSIONS OR ADD-ONS
Start your browser.

Depending on your browser, do one of the following:

For Microsoft Edge: On the top-right corner, click Settings and more, and then click Extensions.

For Mozilla Firefox: On the top-right corner, click the Open menu icon , and click Add-ons. In the Add-ons Manager page, select Extensions.
For Google Chrome: On the top-right corner, click the Customize and control Google Chrome icon, and click Settings. On the Extensions tab, click Extensions.
Select the add-ons one at a time and disable them.

If the Internet speeds up after disabling a particular add-on, then keep it disabled.

DELETE TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES
Open your Norton device security product.

If you see the My Norton window, next to Device Security, click Open.

Double-click Performance, and then click File Cleanup.

After the temporary files are removed, click Close.

Hope You Find This Useful,
Peter