Browsers work, then stop and "Load" forever

[LKent]

New guy here, with an annoying problem...

No matter whether I'm using Firefox, Opera, or IE, everything works fine for a while (sometimes a few minutes, sometimes quite a while), and whether I'm doing email, surfing the web, whatever, and upon opening a new window, hitting refresh, attempting to open an email...with no warning the little circling "Loading" indicator begins and never stops.

If I try and open a different browser, that one will no longer load either.  It's like I've been booted off the router connection, although the connection still shows up as strong.

This machine is one of two notebooks connected wirelessly, and there is a third computer in the house (desktop) that is connected to the router via an ethernet cable.  What can be causing this?

Thanks!

System:  HP notebook running Vista Home Premium, 2GB RAM; fiber optic internet, wireless router.

[EEVIAC]

Power on the computer and tap the F8 button until you get to Advanced Boot Options... Select Safe Mode with Networking

Try browsing around for a while and doing whatever it is you do, and see if the problem is any better...

If it is better, then we'll have to do some software/virus maintenance to get it to work in normal mode...

[LKent]

Thanks, EEVIAC.  I'll try that this evening and report the results asap.