Does your computer respond slowly as you browse the web? If you've upgraded to Internet Explorer 7, a possible cause of the browser slow-down may be the built-in Phishing Filter.

While the new feature is intended to protect against online fraud and personal data theft, it has many users suffering from bogged down PCs, stemming from how the filter evaluates multi-frame pages for fraud indicators.

But, have no fear, there is a fix.

Microsoft has released a patch designed to fix the flaw in IE 7 that should stop the Phishing Filter from slowing your surfing.

If that doesn't do the trick, you can disable the Phishing Filter all-together. (Go to the IE 7 Tools menu, and click Internet Options. Under the Advanced tab, click Disable Phishing Filter in the Settings List. Once you restart IE 7, the filter will be disabled.)

Microsofts Help and Support page has more information on the filter's performance problem.