No can't be that as if my laptop doesn't load PPRuNE, I go straight to my desktop PC and summon PPRuNe, it loads fine with all bells and whistles intact.
With the laptop and the wi-fi connection, PPRuNe NEVER loads the graphical version, whereas my desktop PC ALWAYS loads the graphical version.
It has to be an issue with the way the lappy talks to the internet via the wi-fi connection.
The reason I mentioned DNS earlier, is that I found that in order to get a wi-fi connection at all, I had to specify different DNS servers to those used by my broadband connection. This was after over an hour going through it with the Belkin call centre in Mumbai. In other words, my desktop PC uses one pair of DNS servers, and the laptop another pair.I can only assume that this is a router thing, but my knowledge of networking just doesn't have enough depth to explain why.