Windows XP goes on crawl for 10 to 20 seconds at random once in a while

[epdom]

Generally this is Windows looking for a DHCP server, it does this every ten minutes or so, causing your web browsing to freeze for 30 seconds or so.

1) Go to "Start" -> "Control Panel"
2) Click on "Network & Internet Connections"
3) Click on "Network Connections"
4) Right click on the icon for your Ethernet card connected to your DSL modem _> Choose "Properties"
5) Click on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -> Click "Properties"
6) In the "General" tab check off "Use the following IP address"
7) Type in 192.168.0.15
8) Enter a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
9) Click "OK"
10) Click "OK"

Hope it helps