Home Page does not load

I've got an XP pro machine on my bench for normal upgrades.

It appeared to be running fine except for one small point:

Though it could browse normally, no matter which page is tried as a home
page...the first time IE is run, the page dose not load.

If the *same* page is simply entered manually then all is OK

After resetting *all settings* to default and even upgrading to IE7

there is *no* difference

So I am stumped...the first page the browser tries to go to *never* loads
but anything after that is fine

thanks!


FWIW: It's using Windows firewall and Avast virus checker

philo wrote:
> I've got an XP pro machine on my bench for normal upgrades.
>
> It appeared to be running fine except for one small point:
>
> Though it could browse normally, no matter which page is tried as a home
> page...the first time IE is run, the page dose not load.
>

LOL

as usual, the act of posting usually makes me think of something new.

problem was a bad uninstall of a 3rd party security suite (Comodo)