Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It provides no
additional protection, it's probably causing the delay, it can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages) and even Symantec says it's not
necessary:

paste
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
/paste
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...02111812533106

General OE Caveats:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a manual
compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm.

- Do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if
Automatic Compacting is taking place (WinXP SP2 only).
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Shell/User, Security), Aumha.org VSOP, DTS-L.org


Bob wrote:
I have recently switched to DSL and it is now taking longer to send an
email than it did with dial up. My download and upload speed are fine
and I receive emails as fast as I should. But I sent one that was 5449K
long and it took 8 minutes to send. I am sure the problem is in Outlook
Express but have been unable to find it.