Ah--that can happen when your machine has connected to parts of the network loaded with spammers.

Type in a ridiculous search (like "askjrg fjsg .mp3"). If you get lots of responses, take a look at your Connections pane and see if you can sense a pattern. Delete one or more of the hosts and try again, until you start getting realistic responses (0 results for garbage searches). Then try a real search.

Oh--modem users are often very good, and give better than modem speeds. Spammers prefer T3