Joe -

I don't use anything other than IE, so no "pearls of wisdom to Offer" on Chrome.

Most scripts likely are Java, and I would suspect that Chrome would come to you with some sort of Java already in place, and it may be a Google home-brew like what comes out of the Mickeysoft cauldron. Java Java, as mentioned before, is a free download and is supposed to be compatible with nearly everything, so you might try it to see if it smooths the scripting(?).

With the multiple versions of Java that websites use - not all of which play nice with each other - it's necessary that you have the ability to have multiple versions in your browser, and be able to select which one you want and turn each one on or off, so adding another shouldn't break anything. (And it could be that the version Google packages in Chrome just isn't fully compatible with some older versions that are still in use.)

Unfortunately the script problems can be with other programs that Java calls, and it can call anything. A problem that looks like a script problem could be due to a goobered up Flash, Adobe Reader, multimedia/video codex(es) or programs ... et cetera till the pigs land. The most common problem with scripts is that remote ads that the script tries to insert don't answer the phone, which ties up your browser waiting for a response that doesn't arrive.

Connections that your AV/popup blocker/AntiSpam demands that you give your "permission" for can bring things to a complete halt if you never see the request for permission or don't get the clicky box to accept/reject it. You can't answer, and the machine stops and waits until you do.

Vista programs are known for "The program is not responding because it's waiting for a response from you" when the program isn't responding sufficiently to tell you what response it expects from you, or sufficiently to let you enter a response even if you knew. (Even Word does it occasionally when one of my documents gets past about 170 MB.)

John