Hmmm
Wondering thought if it may be worth asking
1) are you on Xp home or PRo?? and is sp2 installed??
2) how much ram do you have/
3) do you have shockwave and flash installed ( the new adverts i think run in them )
4) This may sound weird but try connecting your pc direct to the line because I assume at work it is on a network.
If so there could be a networking issue doing this.
On another note if your on sp2 make sure the bleeding SP2 Firewall aint turned on for all your net connections, even though it recognised my sygate firewall the cheeky little thing turns on XP firewall, which caused a few issues.
Failing that it could be a local problem near to where you live.. and if you live within the area to your home it could explain the weird problem your having.
Just because it appears to be just microsoft.com site dont mean its only gonna happen there.
Will ask about and see what else I can dig up.
Meantime double check above and let us know how I can help
