Straight from the IE Development group: What is needed is a single line of HTML code in-between your HTML and BODY header.
<HTML> <META HTTP-EQUIV="MSThemeCompatible" CONTENT="no"> <BODY> This command will turn off the Themes that XP uses and will in turn disable the transparent bitmap which was the root cause. I've tested it on our lab machines here and it has resolved the file size issue.
