Weird delay problem

[torrent]

I upgraded from Me to XP and for the most part it went well. I connect to the Internet via an Ethernet connection to a Cable Modem. Since the upgrade any time I connect to a web site I get a delay before the web page starts to load, or sometimes even during the middle of it.

I ran a traceroute and can see that the request to retrieve the web site is delayed, the actual connection to the site is fine and once it does decide to download it does so at around 512K/s.

Can anyone explain why I get this delay?

I have tried disabling "automatically detect my settings" and about all other settings (one at time) to no avail (they are all set back to the default now). I am using Zone Alarm Pro (although I get the same problem without it.)

I don't know if this is related but I sometimes get these messages in ZA Pro's alert window:

Generic Host Process for Win32 Services could not accept a(n)
UDP Port 1967 connection from 194.168.4.100 because Internet
servers are blocked.

User:
Program: Generic Host Process for Win32 Services
Time: 10/02/2002 17:08:52

Although I have noticed I still get this delay even when these messages don't appear, I think it's a bit of a red herring.

The IP address it reports is one of the DNS servers.

Any help really appreciated.

--
Torrent

 

[JJB6486]

Is WinXP's internal firewall disabled? Open your connection, go to the Advanced tab, and uncheck the box under Internet Connection Firewall

JJB6486

 

[torrent]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that it is disabled.