Posted on 03/07/2009 1:33:14 PM PST by Chi-townChief
About two weeks ago, it seems after a windows update, my internet download speed slowed to a crawl. Speakeasy speed tests show me only in the 100-150 kbs download speed range although upload speeds are generally 2000-3000 kbs - high-speed cable connection.
When I'm not on the web, just doing spreadsheet work or disk burning, for example, I'm fine but web browsing is like purgatory.
I've tried everything I can think of including going back and forth between IE 6 and IE 7, reformating and reloading my hard drive, deleting and repeating windows updates, but nothing seems to work.
My final effort right now is going from Outlook Express to Windows Live Mail to see what happens. After that I may toss this computer out the window.
Any help would be greatly appreciated !!!!! - I know I should be on the other forum but this one seems to get the most views.
I’m a long time user of Mozilla products and like Firefox although the latest is crashing almost daily. Am plagued by the failure of MS Service Pack 3 to successfully load even using IE. Apple is next.
Wired?
My results are generally in the 100-150 kbs range download and 200-300 upload.
Tried Firefox - no help.
Yeah - I uninstalled Service Pack 3 and it seemed better for awhile but then the problems came back the next day.
If you’re using a wireless router, secure it with encryption. Your internet provider will help you with that.
To actually monitor live data traffic graphically, download the free evaluation version of DU Meter. Use it for a while, and buy it if you find it useful. DU Meter is useful because its graph visually displays the data inflow and outflow from all applications on your computer.
Last, but not the least, clean your computer of all malware and spyware. Install Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware. Run a scan. Remove all malware. Then install SpyBot. Run a scan, remove all spyware. Finally, use a good, free, light antivirus software, like Avast.
All softwares listed are free of cost, except for DU Meter, which you can evaluate for a month.
Nonsense. I just built a new rig with Inte’s i7 940 chip on an Asus Rampage MOBO. It’s running Windows 7, which is surprisingly stable and very elegant. It is sick, sick fast. Not even OC’d and it encodes DVD’s twice, almost three times as quickly as by Intel Dual-Core 2.5. One word - Hyperthreading. Of course, it is a power hog. When I turn it on, several neighbors experience a temporary brown out.
What are you waiting for? Dump Windows and all its annoying baggage; you'll be thankful you did.
It’s been years since I’ve used XP (using Win7 7048 64bit RC and its working like a charm) so I don’t remember if XP allows you to do this, but you might try rolling back the updates (or do a system restore to a restore point prior to the updates.
Win7 automatically creates restore points before installing updates, I don’t recall if XP does. Doing this will help confirm or eliminate the update as a cause of your problem. If you have IPv6 enabled you might try disabling that, just to see if it makes a difference.
Let me tell you one thing: browsers don’t affect the data speed. If you can do a direct server download from, say Download.com at 1 mbps through Mozilla, you’ll get the same speed through IE7 as well.
If it’s a wired connection, I doubt anyone is stealing your bandwidth. Which still makes me wonder if some other software on your computer other than your browser is using the bandwidth.
Here is a good program that optimizes your system for uploads/downloads.
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
SG TCP Optimizer
TCP Optimizer
Description: The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. There is no installation required, just download and run.
The program can aid both the novice and the advanced user in tweaking related TCP/IP parameters in the Windows Registry, making it easy to tune your system to the type of Internet connection used. The tool uses advanced algorithms, and the bandwidth*delay product to find the best TCP Window for your specific connection speed. It provides for easy tuning of all related TCP/IP parameters, such as MTU, RWIN, and even advanced ones like QoS and ToS/Diffserv prioritization. The program works with all current versions of Windows, and includes additional tools, such as testing average latency over multiple hosts, and finding the largest possible packet size (MTU).
The TCP Optimizer is targeted towards broadband internet connections, however it can be helpful with tuning any internet connection type, from dialup to Gigabit
Sometimes turning off your cable/dsl modem for 30 seconds and turning it back on works. Also, if it is a separate unit, your router should be cold booted as well.
I was using spyboy, zonealarm, and AVG and all seemed to work well until this happened. My cable provider gives McAfee free of charge so I’m trying that now. I try the anti-malware and see what happens. Thanks
You likely got the new MS security patch which has to scan every data file you download. The problem is that the scan is so slow.
You can delete the patch, and make sure you have Norton 360 or another really good anti-virus program. I think Norton has a fix for it, and takes over the MS patch’s work.Its a lot faster.
How do I do that??
Try rolling back to a restore point, hopefully you've got that enabled in Windows.
A network problem with your ISP is possible, but probably unlikely if it's more than 12 hours of sluggishness.
Lastly, if you know the name of the Windows Update (should start with a KB) you could search that update along with your router name and see if anything comes up. Could be a firmware issue, but that's probably a longshot too. Sorry!
Yeah - I’ve done that about a thousand times.
Do you have a friend with a laptop who can hook up to your network cable and check to see if it happens to them? That will at least tell you whether it's your own box, or your router/modem/ISP.
And a little call to your ISP's help desk might be in order to see if they're having problems. Time-Warner had intermittent DNS problems all last week. And occasionally they'll tweak the download bandwidth themselves if they think you're running a server or something. It'd be easy enough to eliminate the possibility by asking.
You might post your setup in a little more detail - it'd help diagnosis. Best of luck!
Try pulling the power off of your cable modem and/or router, wait five seconds, and plug the power back in.
Several possibilities, but you didn’t post enough info ...
1. Could be your virus program. What is it? Has it upgraded recently? Does it run continuous checks?
I finally dumped AVG Home a few weeks ago, because, like McAfee and ZoneAlarm and TrendMicro, it became glutware. The last update slowed my system to a crawl and caused several program conflicts. Since I upgraded MS XP latest recommended updates at the same time, I wasn’t sure which was causing all the conflicts. I went with Avast Home, and, so far, it has been great. It doesn’t use near the system resources.
2. It would be something you picked up via some web program. I contracted some kind of ‘program’ that ran as a system program. (It may have been a part of the AVG upgrade or MS XP upgrade or Java upgrade or something else.). Anyway, before dumping AVG, I restored my system to a previous configuration, and that ‘program’ running in memory was no longer there. (I use clonegenius to image ‘good’ OS partition operations. That way, if I need to ‘step back’, I can upload the last best OS image — that saves all of my settings, etc. Clonegenius or similar image programs is a MUST HAVE. Google it.)
3. Recently my Cable Co started doing area upgrades. The internet connections have gone from fast to near-zilch. It was sporadic for about 2 weeks. They must have finally gotten things changed over, because my interest has been good for a week.
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