I run Vista Home Basic x64. I have a cable connection and I use the on board VIA Rhine II ethernet adapter to connect. First of all, no matter what anti-virus I've ever run, the time it takes Vista to connect to the internet has always been slow. I'd say between 10 and twenty seconds. But I've noticed that has also depended on what security software I am running.

Now when I say it's slow to connect, the only thing I am judging that on is what it shows on the network system tray icon. Usually, right when the desktop finally boots up, it shows a red x. Then eventually, it turns blue when it's connected. So that is the first problem I'm concerned about. I did update the drivers for the ethernet adapter, hoping that would make some difference, but that has done very little.

Now on to the other half of this. I am running AVG Internet Security 8.0. When the desktop boots up, the AV icon is very fast to appear in the system tray. Almost too fast. And what usually happens, because AVG tries to connect and check for updates immediately, is that the AVG icon will become disabled for a few seconds, then when the network finally connects, it goes back to active.

I've noticed that most all of the other security setups I have used never caused this problem, Just AVG. It is admirable that the company wants to update you right away, but it seems tacky the way it's set up now. And I do believe that the overall boot up process as far as the network connecting, does seem slower with AVG. Anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds.

I did try one thing to solve this. I have a program called Startup Cop and what I did was set a delay of about 10 seconds for AVG to start, but it seemed to mess things up and when I did that AVG wouldn't even load at startup, so I uninstalled that program.

So, I'm open to suggestion. I should mention that I am considering switching to ESET Smart Security. I've ran a trial of it before and it's nice and smooth when it hits the system tray and the network seems to connect much faster. But I just wanted to see if I might be able to fix my current situation first.

Jan LaFata