Many thanks for reply, I get the feeling that because I moved from other forum and got 'moved' by my name, nobody would help. So, much appreciated Quiltface.
I did as you said and got below. BBC will not load at all so IE / firefox simply give up.
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings>ping
www.bbc.co.uk
Pinging
www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.253.67] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.253.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=122
Reply from 212.58.253.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=122
Reply from 212.58.253.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=122
Reply from 212.58.253.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=122
Ping statistics for 212.58.253.67:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 24ms, Maximum = 25ms, Average = 24ms