Sorry if I sound like a fool but I'm new to linux and a bit overwhelmed. I have a DSL internet connection which works fine under windows but in linux it is very slow. Pages do load but at "dial-up" speed. Can anyone offer advise?

[Moved from Hardware - arctic. Welcome aboard ]

Hello and welcome to the board.
In order to help you will you please give us some more information i.e. what sort of connection (wired or wireless), what have you tried so far, and have you searched the forums (as this topic has been covered before I think) ?
Thank You.

Check this. Might be the solution to your problem: http://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=30815

I too had slow internet, found that in the resolv.conf if you change the line that says search www.wwww.net to the IP of the www.wwww.net the internet speeds up and also goes for internet connection sharing. sample code:
# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 192.168.1.254
nameserver 192.168.2.2
#search gateway.2wire.net
search 192.168.1.254

You could remove the search line altogether for the same result, as it's not necessarily required.

Setting a proper nameserver is critical. I suggest using the openDNS nameservers (damn fast, probably faster than most ISP's out there, and free).