hi OverdueSpy

Yes me too agree with Jinx here .....

More chances are that you have some trojan or worm...but you never know sometimes the problem is not in the most ovious places....

happened to me many times last time it was blaster(or some other worm)....for first 10-15 minutes my internet Connection worked fine then it started to open many connection at least 6-9... and slowing my dial up to such a extent that i was not able to browse.......

if clearing the cache dosen't work..try this close all the browsers and then open command Prompt and type netstat and see if there are still some exteblished connestions...

and try netstat -a to see all listenimg ports..and if you see any unsual port open google for it....

Scanning with Housecall and get a good a Trojan Remover ..like TDS -3 or Moosoft the Cleaner would be a good option......

--Good luck--