login delay without Internet

[david brett]

I have noticed a behaviour of fedora core (5 or 8) not sure which 
version, which I would like to stop.  If I login on, when the computer 
has Internet access, the process happens fairly quickly.  If the 
computer does not have Internet access, the process takes a few minutes, 
considerably longer than if it does have Internet access.
What is going on, more importantly I do I stop this?