tony

some things that are confusing me a bit:

when i check for proxy via nthell "whats my proxy" it says i am not using a proxy.

when i specify a proxy in ie my browsing speed drops by a third.

without a specified proxy i get the following result from robin walker speedtest:
1st 128K took 12313 ms = 10645 Bytes/sec = approx 89 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 12703 ms = 10318 Bytes/sec = approx 86 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 12047 ms = 10880 Bytes/sec = approx 91 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 12515 ms = 10473 Bytes/sec = approx 87 kbits/sec

with proxy specified i get:
1st 128K took 7500 ms = 17476 Bytes/sec = approx 145 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 7203 ms = 18197 Bytes/sec = approx 151 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 8156 ms = 16071 Bytes/sec = approx 134 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 7391 ms = 17734 Bytes/sec = approx 148 kbits/sec

I shall use the specified proxy for a day to see if it resolves the original problem.