For some reason Visual Studio Help does not correctly determine the proxy server setttings from Internet Explorer, or if it does it is very slow.

To get it working add the following to the dexplore.exe.config file located in “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Help 8″

 

<system.net>
…
<defaultProxy enabled=”true” useDefaultCredentials=”true”>
<proxy bypassonlocal=”True” proxyaddress=”http://yourProxyServer:PortNo”/>
</defaultProxy>
…
</system.net>