Resolved Google hangs while loading under IE8

All was well until a week ago. Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit.
If I try to go to Google from my favorites, the page shows up, but the progress bar hangs at about the 20% point. If it grows any, I don't know because I run out of patience after about 1 minute. I get out using ctrl-alt-del. The task manager shows Google-Internet Explorer as the only task running.
I'm with comcast, and the homepage has a google window, which I can use without any problem.
I removed Google from my favorites.
If I type Google dot com into the URL line, it hangs as well. I am forced to use ctrl-alt-del to get out. All of this is under IE8.
I have Mozilla Firefox installed. It has been installed for well over 9 months. The Google access from the favorites there goes off without a hitch.
Any ideas?

 

Have you tried running IE8 in no addons mode? If so does the issue still occur?

 

I'm not sure I know how to. The drop down menu under tools shows "manage add-ons" as one of the choices. When I look at the add-ons with Toolbars and Extensions highlighted-I see about 10 of them enabled-though I previously counted 25, and then 9. It seems to be variable. Anyway, right-clicking the enable gives me the option to disable each one individually. Is that how it's done? They are grouped under Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec, and a few others.

 

Please read the link I posted (I don't post links for fun)...

Particulary...

 

Boy is my face red! I didn't recognize your link as a link, since my post shows up with random stuff underlined, I just assumed to BBS chooses some criteria to underline certain words. ...and they list me as a "senior member "...
Anyway, starting IE without add-ons clears the problem. I then restarted IE from the usual icon on my desktop, and saw well over 30 add-ons listed. Typing in Google dot com caused it to balk as before.
Now, I guess I have to disable each add-on individually? Or do you suspect one above all others to be the culprit? It seems like an onerous task otherwise-especially since the number of add-ons listed is so variable.

 

Individual disabling is the way to go I'm afraid. Please let us know of your findings.

 

I have nine add-ons. Three of them are from Symantec: Norton Toolbar, Symantec NCO BHO and Symantec Intrusion Prevention. I disabled all three and now Google loads. The other six are from Flashwave, Java, Adobe, two from Microsoft, and one from "Research ". They appear to be benign.
I am with Comcast and did install their free Norton Security Suite.
For about a year-all was fine. I'm guessing that something went afoul in one of their most recent updates.
Unless you folks have a reason not to, I will mark this thread as resolved.
Thanks wildfire for your kind help.
I guess a nagging question is why do the other 3 computers in my home still behave ok? Two are running Vista and one is Win 7.

 

No two systems are really identical (you don't say if the 7 system is 64bit ultimate also) and unforseen glitches can occur for the unlikeliest reasons.

I'd check for an update of your Norton software (actually, personally I'd abandon it altogether) to see if that helps.

 

I went with the Comcast freebie because maintaining the AVG, SpywareBlaster, Adaware etc., individually and collectively on 4 different computers was just too much effort. So far, Norton is pretty painless-relatively speaking.
I'll close out this thread.
Thanks again for your kind attention and input.