[Loz]

Could be a temporary glitch with the servers of the sites you are using (and/or a problem with their bandwidth). Increasing the time-out might work, but I think you said you use Windoze 2000 and I know little about that system.
If your settings are Supervisor password protected, it follows that you are logging onto your laptop as an ordinary, restricted user. Are you able to log on as a supervisor? If you have to log on when you switch on the laptop, try using "Administrator" as the logon ID and leave the password blank, to log on. You may be able to access your IE settings that way.