Ok, I have read and reread all the posts on this topic, tried just about everything suggested.
The one symptom that I have not seen anyone report is the it happens after a couple of minutes in...
Also, everything was working fine before. it happened a couples time, but it was much more infrequent.
I stop my Apache and MySql services. Then Restart them. Then I go on happily to my site.
http://localhost/happyfella/blahblah.php?page=blabla
EVERYTHINGS works fine, about 15 click later I get the dreaded "Waiting for localhost..." and Ohhh crap, I have to restart apache again to continue testing my crap.
I have tried changing localhost to a static IP, still got "Waiting for localhost..."
I added Win32DisableAcceptEx to the end of my httpd.conf file, , still got "Waiting for localhost..."
any suggestions?