Question Browser/ Slow To Load Home Page

[Pez]

Hi all.

I was originally going to post this over in the Windows 11 forum, but have since discovered something else.

First: I have a fresh install of Windows 11 on my custom-built desktop system; not even a week old yet, installed this past 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.

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 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.

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:

https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-11-common-problems-and-fixes#fix_network_windows11

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 one; 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 my 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 last Saturday, I also installed my motherboard's drivers/ software, which included the LAN drivers.

Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks,
Pez

 

[Pez]

Wow.....I don't think I've ever had a time when I didn't receive any replies at all; usually somebody thinks of something to suggest. It made me so sad 😢 JK!!

Anyway......it took a while, but I discovered & found out the issue myself.

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