IE Delay

I have a client’s PC with WinXP Pro SP2.
When you open internet explorer there is about a 12 second delay then the page appears quickly. This happens to any new page you click on or type in the URL for.
I have cleaned spyware, run maintenance
I got rid of 2 damaged IE plug-in program files.
I tried turning off all add-ons and minimizing start-up options.
I have examined the \system32\drivers\etc\hosts file and all is in order.
Nothing has changed the delay.
I installed FireFox and there is no delay.

Help would be appreciated.