Browser/ Slow To Load Home Page

Hi all.

I originally thought my issue was some type of a Windows 11 compatibility issue, but have since discovered something else.

First: I have a fresh install of Windows 11 on my custom-built desktop system; barely a few weeks old yet, installed 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. I am on Version 21H2, OS Build 22000.376

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 within the browser's interface (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 (and yes, that is the speed I'm am subscribed for and receive from my ISP).

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:

Got a problem installing Windows 11? Here's the fix.

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-for service; 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 the 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 Saturday, 12/11/21, I also installed my motherboard's drivers/ software, which included the LAN drivers. But just in case those drivers were outdated, I uninstalled them, went to Device Manager/ Network Adapters, and made sure it was removed/ uninstalled from there, too. I then rebooted the computer and let Windows detect the embedded LAN and then install the drivers.

Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks,
Pez

Does clearing your browser's cache make any difference in the way it loads? You didn't mention what browser you use. In Edge-3 dots
Settings-Privacy, search, and services-Clear browsing data now-(choose what to clear) select 'All Time'-clear now. Then close and reopen browser.

Firefox and Chrome procedure is similar.

Hi glasskuter; thanks for your reply.

No matter which browser I use, I clear my browser's cache all the time upon exiting.

And yes, I did mention the browsers I use; I'll quote myself: "I switch around from Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Google Chrome".

But guess what? I figured it out......

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

Boom! Good troubleshooting Pez.

Pez said:

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.

Click to expand...

I have the same problem that's described in this thread. On a lark, I launched my work VPN (rarely used), and went to a website that takes forever for me to load. *BOOM*, it loaded right away.

So that's a shared experience. However, before I tried this, I had also tried disabling auto-detect in the proxy settings; my experience was not yours. It did not fix the problem - it only goes away, when I run VPN.

Still, a valuable clue. I'm still in the market for a solution, where I *don't* have to run VPN.

Dan

An update: Another lark. I launched the same webpage after I had terminated VPN. *BOOM*, it came right up. I'm gonna reboot, and see if that puts me out of business again - and that launching VPN makes for some corrective action.

shortmort37 said:

I'm gonna reboot, and see if that puts me out of business again - and that launching VPN makes for some corrective action.

Click to expand...

D*mn. After reboot, and before running VPN, the launch of the website is instantaneous.

I'm at a loss.

shortmort37 said:

After reboot, and before running VPN, the launch of the website is instantaneous.

Click to expand...

New data: That was true for Chrome, and even after I purged the site from the browser history.

However - Edge and Firefox still exibit the problem! Is it that the site wanted to deposit a cookie, was hampered without VPN, but then after deposited with VPN - everything was good? I need to repeat the VPN experiment, using Edge and Firefox.

Here's the site, BTW - it's for signing up for Social Security notifications:

Social Security

It's not just this site, however - I have experienced it with many other sites.

The latest.

secure.ssa.gov is just one of many websites for which I have issues in Windows 11, regardless of the browser. Here are the steps I took:

1) Confirmed that with Edge, invoking the URL in my previous post has a significantly delayed response - at least a minute, or more.
2) Established a VPN connection to my place of work (F5 VPN, in my case).
3) Invoked the URL. Boom! It loaded immediately.
4) Shut down the VPN, and again invoked the URL. Boom! It loaded immediately.
5) Went into the Edge settings -> privacy, search and services -> Clear browsing data now (choose what to clear) -> and cleared browsing history *only*.
6) Invoked the URL. Back to an interminable delay.

It's clear that running the VPN somehow facilitates the launching of the webpage - otherwise inhibited - and once in the browser history, is subsequently accessible without delay. And removing it from history, reintroduces the problem.

So: What is it about running VPN, that facilitates a webpage launch?