i have broadband internet, but my connection seems slower than dial up, any suggestions how i can speed it up?

Answer 1

Firstly, give your system a check over @ http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/ which will show you how everything is performing, including your internet connection + flag up any problems, and suggest what tweaks you could make to improve things.

Next up, GOOGLE do an Internet speed booster program (possibly the only one that doesn't also put spyware / adware on your computer) which is supposed to be pretty effective
http://webaccelerator.google.com/

If it hasn't been done for a while, or you're still using Internet Explorer, try updating to a new one........ Mozilla Firefox2 is good (and I also found things run much faster when using it)
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Also, try installing some Spyware protection, and scan your computer for Spyware / Adware hogging your bandwidth.
SPYBOT: Search & Destroy is one of the best free ones
http://www.safer-networking.org

And also Firewall protection from the FREE version of Zonealarm - http://www.zonelabs.com

And if you ain't got any full time Anti-Virus protection (e.g. none at all, or been relying on one of the online ones such as TrendMicro Housecall), check out Avira Anti-VIR PersonalEdition Classic from http://www.free-av.com

Answer 2

The more beneficial courses you've operating on a similar connection, even on diverse computers, will gradual it down. photograph your information superhighway connection like a street. once you've in undemanding words some autos, each thing strikes quick and also you get to the position you want to be right away. yet upload more beneficial site visitors and issues get slowed down. that's a similar including your connection. What you may do is eliminate courses out of your start up menu that you do not favor operating each of the time and do a examine for malware, spyware, and the different courses that are operating without you understanding. Or it may nicely be your ISP. call their tech help and ask them to do a % connection attempt so that you may make certain that's not some thing on their end. sturdy success.

Answer 3

Hi there

Check that you haven;t got spyware running on your system as it may be using your internet connection which will slow it down. Search for "spy bot search and destroy" on the internet, its free and will eliminate any spyware on your system. Try AVG anti virus for virus protection if you don;t have any installed.

Hope this helps.

Scott

Answer 4

do a disc clean up and defrag.

if you have lots of games on there.....
or programs are there some you could delete...

Answer 5

99% of all internet problems can be attributed to the wrong set of Web browser and Email clients in coordination of the
AV/ Spyware / Firewall software.


Get the following, all are free for a safe surfing experience, with proven track records and do not take up
system resources like Norton or McAffee.
install in SAFE mode with networking ( hit F-8 at boot time ), run them all in SAFE mode
with networking as you'll need it for the updates all the programs below will need.
Turn off RESTORE and the RECYLE BIN temporarily as virii can regenerate / reinfect even if you delete
them with both services on. After all the scanning and cleaning after a 2nd reboot and one last
scan do you turn both of them back on.

ANTI VIRAL

AVG (free) http://free.grisoft.com/


FIREWALL

ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

WEB BROWSER - http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox

EMAIL use thunderbird. It has a good built in spam filter and learns when you teach it. http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird

SPYWARE

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Once you set it all up create 3 email accounts..

a hotmail or yahoo account for web "verification", this account you will not care if it get spammed

a sub account ( from the master account )to your ISP that you use for logons, this is the one you use for personal
emails only to trusted people and banking, ebay and paypal. Never use the account for anything else than that,
you find spam is low to non existant if you follow this rule, and even if it does become spam laden, then you
can delete the account and create a new sub account and do all the email updates to ebay, paypal, banks and your
freinds.

finally your master account from your ISP, this one you NEVER use, it's only kept for creating sub accounts since
changing the master account is a real pain.


and if you have a wireless router follow these tips,


1. Use WPA encryption (WPA-PSK) it's less crackable then WEP.

2. Make a passphrase that is upper & lower case and has some numbers thrown in there as well, again harder to crack.
some like mAkE1t5eCurE0rel53 and as long as possible.

3. Use MAC access control so only you or authorized PC's can connect (even if you do have encryption turned on)

4. Turn off DHCP use static addresses.

5. Turn off SSID (and change it) unless your card really needs it (some do)

6. Change username/password of access unit front end

7. Ensure you have the usual firewall enabled on your PC.

8. Paranoia rules, turn WLAN off if your not using it :)


one last tip
control panel---administrator tools--services--messenger

right clik on it
stop the service
then disable it
save changes


********** sidebar ****************

You've seen the Internet ads: Click here to get your free laptop computer, iPod, trip to Bermuda . . .

Ever wondered what would happen if you tried to claim the freebie?

Generally, you'd end up earning the reward by answering surveys, completing product offers or referring friends.


The free iPod that costs you

you respond to a free iPod ad. After several requests to sign up for various services, you'll realize that the free iPod was not free at all. The killing part is, you end up actually committing to a few services and will be billed for them, but because you get caught in a loop of pop-up windows and surveys, you then become frustrated and will not follow through to get the free iPod.


Free cell phone! What free cell phone?

After going through 11 questionnaires and saying no to all, you finally get to the last, and they say you must at least pick two items in order to be able to get whatever they are giving away.
For instance, If you answer a free cell phone ad and go through 11-12 questionnaires and at first it says no obligation to buy anything, but when you get to the last , it will say you must at least try magazines for 30 days and they're hoping you'll will forget to cancel before the 30 days. And the kicker was once you agree to the free trial of magazines, they never ever mentioned the free cell phone again, and then you will be watching and waiting to see what they do to your credit card and if I get the phone. By the way, once you give one company your credit card number you get charged $1 to $4.95 on your card, for other items you never heard of before and have to take the time to call them and get them to remove it.


Free spam! Act now!

Yes, they are all scams. There is always a 'short' questionnaire. You always have to answer many, many questions if you want this or that. You always have to give your e-mail address and other information. You always have to check 'yes' for at least one in order to qualify and continue. If you ever get to the end after 45 minutes or so -- yeah, short -- you end up having to buy or sign up for something or your name is put into a lottery for a chance to win. I, in my stupidity, have done this several times. Always thinking maybe this one is legit. Not! You'll have never get the free product or the free gift card, groceries, movie tickets, etc. Then your e-mail is bombarded with hundreds of advertisements that you can never seem to stop unless you change your e-mail address. What a deal. Moral of this story is: Nothing is free.



If you filled out the questionnaire online for a $50 gift certificate for dinner at a well-known restaurant chain. They ask for your name and the rest of your personal information and e-mail address. Then the questionnaire opens up a new page and asks you if you would be interested in e-mails for specials on items that you could use in your life. You fill that page out then here comes another page with more questions. After about five pages I gave up. It just wouldn't quit. It was like a stupid carrot that they had hanging out there that you could never reach. I turned my computer off and said, 'Forget that!' After that you'll check your e-mail for about a week and when you do you'll had over 200 spam messages, even sex ones. You'll never get a dinner certificate. You'll end up had to closing that e-mail account because the spam garbage will not quit. Moral of the story: There is no free lunch on the Internet.



After you give your e-mail address and answered all the questions, you'll be informed that you have to order (buy) one item from several areas in order to receive the freebie. So you end canceling the 'adventure' and then you'll be inundated with junk mail ever since. Never again. Big scam for addresses to sell, etc.

Complete the never-ending survey

If you try to win a few of those free products, butsoon you'll be convinced they are the biggest fraud out there. For example, you'll spend three hours filling out questionnaires only to find out they never end, and the couple of times you'll get to the end , and they will want you to buy something and you know what that means: They are asking for your credit card information.


Free (with shipping and handling)

If you purchase some software from a company that advertises if you pay for shipping you get four software titles for free.
A few weeks later you'll get a $49 charge to your account. If you look up the company on the Web and none of the links you'll find will go to the company. If you try the phone number that showed up on your statement and they simply tell you they are not available and to try back later before they hang up on you. So you'll be dissatisfied, and searched the Internet a little more only to find you're were not the only one to be scammed. Turns out that they never tell you that you are signing up for a subscription but send you software and you have a short time frame to return it or be charged. Total scam.
Free (with Social Security and credit card numbers)


Free (with purchase)

"If Your dumb enough you'll answer ads for 'free' products. Please note the quote marks -- they're intentional. Many of the Internet freebies have extremely long forms to fill out, complete with a host of ads you need to reply 'not interested' to or else you'll receive hundreds of solicitations from various companies.
The 'gift certificates' offered for sometimes hundreds of dollars almost always involve purchasing something, somewhere along the line or becoming a trial member of something. At which point you need to pay for your subscription or membership upfront, with the caveat it's 'fully refundable' within strict parameters. As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch!