I would seriously consider updating your equipment. An entry level DELL INSPIRON with 3 GB's of RAM, 64-bit Windows 7 Operating System, monitor, and all the latest gizmos lists for $479.00 on DELL's website. Someday they are going to toss XP and stop providing support for it. At that point you would have to buy a new operating system.

mac5u, Will here. I hate to be offering support when I don't know exactly what is up, but I may be able to address a few things you are thinking about. I use Macs and always get discouraged using Windows, mostly because for me, the Mac is less problematic and easier to figure out intuitively, both in general and when troubles arise. As the systems and programs get more complex, this can become less the case, but for my mind, I always feel encouraged to explore for answers myself with the Mac.

When we first were looking to get a computer many years ago, we asked everyone we knew which to buy, and the answers were very interesting. All the Mac folks said something that had affection in it. "i Love my Mac" "Its so easy...or so fun...." "It works like I work"...And interestingly, on the Windows side, across the board were comments like "get a real computer, why would you buy a Mac?" Or "Windows are better than Macs" or "you can get a lot more programs for Windows and Macs are too expensive!".....and the like....nearly all defensive.

And when we looked closely, though you could buy cheaper Windows computers and lots of Windows programs, once you figured in all the standard features on the Mac.... quality parts, reliability, user friendly considerations, and program features, the Mac was either not more expensive or very little more, plus being easier to enjoy. And software-wise, though the Mac did have less options, it had everything we needed and when we bought commercial software and shareware that did not come with the compiuter, there were always programs with good ratings...not a dime a dozen, but plenty for our needs. That made it a no brainer for us. Buy the system that is designed and made for ease of use, and with good parts, but most importantly, one users tend to have affection for!

Now, when I help friends that have changed over to Mac....by far the biggest issue is helping them not to be afraid of their computer...to feel free to explore and find solutions themselves without dead ends, and "illegal exceptions" and the like. This may be different with the latest systems....but heritage means something in something as progressive as computer design and the Mac approach has always been more approachable for me.

But the forum issue.....I agree with you, why just Decware forums? In this case, I would try a different and current browser before going to a lot of other trouble. Have you tried Firefox? On a Mac it is quite good and being open source and from geek land, they keep the technology pretty up to date. Presumably the Windows version will work well too. http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/system-requirements.html

There are css and html protocols that may effect internet performance using an old rig with outdated software. Also there are Java versions and flash versions that may need updating. But who knows...if you download the free Firefox it may just do it. And perhaps, if not, follow any update schemes it suggests once it is installed and working....it might help you get that Zstage 1st!

Will,

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll try a different web browser when I get home.  The site works great from work.  Could be a bad thing for me....

yes mac,  have had the exact same experience you are having.  started about a month ago after having perfectly normal experience for several years.  contacted steve to see if i had displeased someone there.  was told they did not do such things.  he said he would check into it.  no word so far.  have three decware pieces and am highly pleased with the quality and performance.  no problems with any other portions of the website or any other portions of the internet for that matter.  whay to do?  perhaps in the immortal words of tom waits and southside johnny,  "walk away and start over again!!"  don pettit, long beach, washington

Don, I don't wish this problem on anybody so sorry to hear you are having similar problems.  Yours just recently started;  I have never had any luck ever with this web site.  I'd like to think Steve will look into and give you some ideas.

Will, I tried using my wife's laptop which has Firefox installed and it's a no-go.  Next I installed Firefox on my son's computer rather than mine.  He is a special needs kid and he doesn't surf the Web at all so I figured his computer would have the least amount of issues that might accrue from long-time, heavy web usage.  Same results.  Man, I was hoping Firefox was the quick fix.  Both computers have SP 3.

Bummer.

Next step is to call my ISP and see if they have any ideas.  I am also going to try and get help over at the YaBB forum.  Even though it is not for consumers who have problems but for folks like Steve who use it to power their forums, maybe someone there might have an idea.

If neither of those work out, the next step is to pull one of the computers out of my home network, plug into a different network and see if I can eliminate the machine.  

Can't help but think there is just some weird ju-ju happening between my home network and Decware since it is only the Decware forums that are giving me the dickens.

One nice,cool thing about Firefox on this website:  I used to have to Left Align my posts to get them to look right otherwise I'd have sentences that were formatted in different ways such as one line of a paragraph being centered and others being indented in a few spaces.

4krow, good to hear Firefox fixed your problem.  It didn't fix mine.  :(  
Edit:  I see my smilie above didn't show correctly though.