I've noticed that some sites (usually the larger corporate businesses such as MSN, Banks etc) use flash type headers that load instantly. However, other sites have the timer showing and it usually takes about 2 - 5 secs for the header to load up.

Can anyone shed any light on this and whats the best type of use for flash to avoid making people wait?

thannks in advance
Rol

It always depends on the size of the flash file. If the flash object on the site requires a loading bar, then it must contain a lot of information or really big graphics. If you don't want people to wait around, I suggest not making your flash banner extremely big. Simple animations for the banner always works.