WinXP Network Configuration Problem

I had my EIDE 250 GB hard drive wiped & loaded with WinXP. I went out to
windows upate & downloaded all WinXP critial patches as of 10 Oct 2009. I am
using the IE6 which comes with WinXP. For the first time (having loaded
Windows many times in the past), the Internet explorer is going "Offline" if
I sit on one web page to long. There are two button on the popup message -
the "Work Offine" button and the "Retry" button. If I press the "Retry"
button, the requested page comes up normally, and off I go until the next
time out.

I have already gone into the property of the network connection and
unchecked the box that allow "this device to be turned off to save enegy". I
have also added the Keep Active registry entery and set it to 1800000 (not
sure on number of zeros off the top of my head).

Office 2003, Partition Magic, Roxio, AVG, Malwarebits, etc.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.