IE Hangs for No Obvious Reason

Tech Tip: Click here to run a free scan for Windows Errors and optimize PC performance

While using IE, there are frequent times when it appears that it
tries to refresh itself, but the page content then reappears painfully
slowly. All this time, the hourglass icon is present and the page is
totally non-functional. It is not even possible to close IE by
clicking the upper right corner, because there is no cursor arrow
(it is the hourglass icon.) Often, IE has to be closed with the
Windows Task Manager, and restarted.
I have done a Norton virus scan and everything looks clean. I
might add that this Dell Inspiron 2650 has had some odd problems,
possibly motherboard or BIOS related (desktop with flashing icons,
for example.) However, neither my e-mail program (Eudora) nor my
newsreader (Agent) experience the aforementioned IE problems.
Could someone offer a suggestion or two? Thanks very
much.
Frank
.