watso uses linux, and there is a little program called xnetload, which shows how many bits (or kb or whatever), are downloading - so there must be a similar thing for windows if you are downloading at the mximm of your connection speed, they the pc will be slow.
how about trying another browser. a browser without all the thrills and spills. watso recalls one in windows called the "offbyone browser"
http://offbyone.com/offbyone/
watso cannot recall how it worked in hc,and it is certainly not perfect for all sites, as it does not have "all the thrills and spills" eg java, java script etc - but for some sites, it could speed things up - especially if one is on dial up
