>I just got an email from the customer; he says he just timed opening of the first page. It took 78 seconds. Way too long. There has to be something with the server there.

Is the backend SQL Server? If yes, that is also another factor. With a VFP backend, the first hit takes about 10 seconds. But, if the backend is SQL Server, it will take much longer. That one is unpredictable. I just don't know the logic in place for that. But, I know it could take long some time which forced me to increase the timeout of the connection to much longer just to avoid having an error on the first hit.