If all Internet connections are running slow, the problem is the computer, right?

What machine and OS do you use? CPU type and how many gigs of RAM do you currently have?

Assuming your using Vista, try clearing your cookies or re-installing your Firefox.

If it still don't work, you might try switching your Windows style to Classic and see if your computer speeds up performance.

(In case you don't know how to do that, you can do that by right-clicking on your desktop --> Personalize --> Windows Color and Appearance --> Windows Classic --> Apply then click ok.)

Adding up, Internet Security softwares also slows down PC performance. You might wanna try disabling it for awhile, see if it speeds up your PC's performance.

If that still doesn't solve the problem. Maybe you have slow RAM so you might try upgrading it.

My PC originally had 512 mb of RAM before and it was really frustrating specially when browsing on sites that has videos. I upgraded it to 4 gigs and since then, it only take seconds to browse on even sites that really has long sales pages and video combined.

Hope this helps...

Hi Jillian,

You said this started a couple of days ago. Your troubleshooting is on the right track but I recommend adding some more steps.

Step1:

Shut down the pc. Start it up, hit F8 and enter Safe mode with networking and see if the problem goes away.

If so, then you need to boot up and go to the Start menu and use the Run command and type msconfig and hit enter. On the Startup tab you need to disable everything and then selectively re-enable each (and reboot) until you find what is causing the slow down. It is possible that a particular program's file(s) have become corrupted and the program needs to be re-installed or updated.

Step 2:
If you have Windows set to update automatically, it is possible an update is affecting the Internet "stack" and networking may need to be re-installed.

Step 3:
You may need to re-install the driver or card for the pc side of the WIFI equation.

Step 4:
You can try system restore togo back to a restore point prior to the time when you noticed the problem.

Hope that helps.

With my "day job," I must log on to their site each day for several hours of downloading and uploading work. Everything in "Network Places" was their URL. So I guess I need to check on that more often and clean it out. I don't know what the deal is, as far as if there is a way to sign on to their site to do my work without them filling up this part of my computer.

I'm not techie at all, so I have no idea.

I just went to take a look at TrendMicro's web site to see what they offer. If I download any of their spyware stuff, am I going to run into the same chaos that happened when I had Norton and AVG at the same time?

I have no idea which services would be unnecessary. I've gone through and looked, and can't make heads or tails of their abbreviated names.

I may end up taking this to my favorite guy at Staples and borrow my teenager's computer for a day or two, although it's always a pain in the rear when we have to share a computer. We both need to be on it at the same time.

What's your time worth? If you add up all the time you waste on this crap, is it more than what a Mac would cost?

I develop software for Windows. I worked in a place recently with nearly two dozen long-time Windows software developers.

Do you know what computers we ALL use at home for our own stuff?

Macs.

I'm working on my iMac right now.

The only problems I have to deal with are Firefox causing the machine to slow down because of its well-known memory leaks.

I don't have to waste 25% of my CPU bandwidth to anti-virus scanners, spyware sniffers, and other useless crap.

Look at it this way, if you lived in a neighborhood where people would break into your house at all hours of the day and night, how long would you keep putting up chicken-wire, alarm systems, and other defense mechanisms before you just decided to MOVE?

How much does it cost every time you have to have a virus removed from your computer?

How much time does it take to "restore" your disk, then re-install all of your apps?

How much work do you not get done waiting for problems like this to get cleared up?

BTW, you mentioned that you regularly backup your files. Do you know that viruses often attach themselves to files and get restored when you pull infected files off of your backup and use them?

A new Mac laptop can be bought for under $1000. A 24" iMac is $1400.

You can call me a "Mac bigot" if you like. I just prefer to NOT waste my time dealing with all of the problems living in the "Windows neighborhood" costs. I have a choice, owning both Windows and Mac computers. In the nearly 3 years I've had my iMac, it has given me no trouble at all. Not once. My Windows machines get infected periodically, but the Mac, never.

BTW, someone just sent me a page layout for a postcard as a .doc file. I've been using Word for ages, and got tired of having it keep shifting text around on the page. Word is really lousy when it comes to page layout stuff -- that's what Publisher is for. But I don't have Publisher. It's $150 or so.

I went over to the Apple store and asked if someone there could show me how to use their Pages software to lay out a postcard. First off, they usually have people there who CAN show you stuff like that, unlike most places that sell Windows computers. Secondly, it was like night and day! I spent over an hour talking with a fellow who teaches graphic arts at the local community college and helps a local high school with their school newspaper -- that has won several national awards for their design, no less. He works part-time at the Apple store because ... he enjoys teaching!

I bought a copy of iWork for $79, which includes the equivalent of MS Word, Publisher, Excel, and Powerpoint, came home, installed it, and had the postcard completely done (from scratch, no less!) in less time than I'd already spent futzing around with the file I was working with in Word.

(He also mentioned that they have free classes in the evenings that show you how to use different Apple applications.)

Note that I could have imported that .doc file and used it with not problem, but I just wanted to see what it would be like to make it from scratch. WAY EASIER than in Word!

If you place any value at all on your time, you should seriously consider getting a Mac. Just because they work -- faster, simpler, and with WAY fewer problems than Windows machines. (You can still run your favorite Windows apps on them, too.)

I recently purchased a copy of their Logic Studio sound editing software. When I went to install it, it said it needed 58GB on my hard drive. I only had 40GB free on a 250GB drive. So I replaced the drive with a 1TB drive, booted from the standard installation DVD, told it to restore from my "Time Machine" backup, then went out for lunch. When I returned, my machine was ready to go. I installed the rest of Logic Studio, and now I've got over 750GB of free disk space on my new drive!

People think Apple software is more expensive than Windows software. I'd have to flatly disagree with that. I was looking around for some sound editing software called a "convolution reverb". You can search Google for that term, and you'll find numerous products that start at around $300 and go over $1000. It turns out that Logic Studio includes a program called "Spaces" that is a convolution reverb plugin. The entire Logic Studio package is $499 -- all 58GB of it. That includes "Spaces" and over a dozen top-shelf professional grade sound editing packages, as well as all 7 of the Apple "Jam Packs" that cost $85 each to buy separately.

MS Office for the Mac is $250 or so. iWorks is $79 and contains substantially the same stuff, although it's way better.

MS FrontPage is $150. iWeb is a far more powerful tool and it's included in iLife, which ships for free with every Mac computer.

The recent upgrade to "Snow Leopard", OS X 10.6, only cost $29. The 10.5 upgrade was $129. What are people expecting to pay for Windows 7? (You won't find ME upgrading past Windows XP on my computers, thank you very much!)

Anybody who cares to do an "apples to apples" comparison (pardon the pun) between Windows boxes and Macs, without even factoring in all of the time you waste futzing with problems in the Windows environment, it's pretty obvious. When you factor in what your time is worth and what Windows is costing you, it becomes REALLY obvious!

-David

Hey Jill .. I was going to suggest a few other troubleshooting options, but good to hear things are working smoothly again.

Just for closure... would you mind telling us all what settings you changed in MSCONFIG?

Also, which version of firefox are you using? I noticed a big slowdown in firefox till I implemented some 'speed up firefox 3' config changes and now I can open up 4-5 firefox windows with about 20-30 tabs in each with no problem. I've also installed the flashbock addon in firefox which allows me to only allow flash on the sites that I choose and seen a benefit from that.

Using Skype? If so, try uninstalling it for a test. I did and my Internet speeded up.

Using Skype? If so, try uninstalling it for a test. I did and my Internet speeded up.