IE8 + AVG = Problem?

My IE8 fails to connect to any site from time to time. This happens sporadically and on certain new tabs only. After trawling through the suggestions in this discussion group, I found that the following solutions from fufufufu worked for me.

1. Work around: if one tab does not connect, try open another one. Some tabs will eventually work.
2. Solution: disable my AVG Anti-Virus Free (v8.5)'s Link Scanner feature (done in AVG's GUI client)

Interestingly, none of these problems with IE had ever occurred to my trusted FireFox.