Being a person who believes in using XP for as long as possible and also using I.E. 8 (I know, I know) I have been getting fed up with the browser hanging - usually on PPRuNe but also on some others. The program then locks up and often recovers itself. Of course this problem went away if I remembered to run Firefox instead of I.E. but I have just discovered that on disabling all the add-ons as suggested here seems to cure the problem and the browser is now running much faster than before. Of course PPRuNe and other sites moan that they can't find an addon that they want, but it does not stop them running. I think most of my addons will continue to be disabled!
P.P.