>(Not sure if this can be an exact explanation).
>Strings in .Net are reference types and immutable. That's when you concatanate a string with another new string is not simply added to the end of the other in memory, but a totally new string is created.
>Within each call you're effectively creating a series of new strings in memory + a new lcHtml string.
>.Net StringBuilder class is for things like this. Use it. It effectively optimizes the process and is fast. Yey another alternative is to create a stream and append to that stream. ie:
>

>Dim sb as new StringBuilder()
>sb.Append(lcHTML)
>                        If cCurrentField = "No_Claim" Then
>for 1 to 8
>  sb.AppendFormat(  "&ClaimNo={0}&MitTelAI={1}&Hd=1>", _
>              Trim(oRow("No_Claim")), _
>              LTrim(Str(oRow("AI")))   )
>next
>                        End If
>

>or: If you prefer:
>sb.Append("&ClaimNo=")
>sb.Append(Trim(oRow("No_Claim")))
>sb.Append("&MitTelAI=")

The StringBuilder() does not resolve the issue. If I have this, which means I am not executing anything, I obtain a processing time of one second:

                        ' Process the hyperlinks, if any
                        'lcHtml = lcHtml + Hyperlink()
                        If cCurrentField = "No_Claim" Then
                            Dim sb As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()
                            If False Then
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                sb.Append(oRow("No_Claim").ToString.Trim)
                                lcHtml = lcHtml + sb.ToString
                            End If
                        End If

If I remove the If False condition, I obtain a processing time of 7 seconds.