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toggleswitch

toggleswitch

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
19,053
Location
New York City, NY
OK computer geeks....

It is taking a very long time for my computer to load webpages.
It was taking Internet Explorer a long time to get to the next page or window. I downloaded Firefox as a different web-browser. Same deal.

I am perplexed as to the issue. Is there a problem, with my DSL (Digital Subscriber(phone/data) Line, or do I need more RAM for my 5+ year old desktop computer?

I have cleaned out cookies, temporary files etcetera.

My router is to the left and my modem is on the right.

The left "internet" indicator light is red. Not good.
The middle light is "Data"
And the light to the right is "DSL"

HELP!

toggleswitch++4-25-2010-21-34-20.jpg
 
Have you tried he connection speed test yet?
I had Bell DSL and it was terrible, never got the speeds they said and had those same sort of issues. Went with cable hi speed.

Is what is happening just started recently, everything was ok before?

do this test and check against what speed your paying for

http://www.speedtest.net/
 
registry

Have you tried cleaning up your registry files? When we were working on our Dell, we ran registry cleaner, and the computer was a lot faster at loading pages after that. worth a shot. And adding more ram is never a bad idea, will speed things up instantly most times.
Chris
 
This is the recipe I use for my own computers at home and work:

Download, install, and run ccleaner. It finds and cleans all kinds of cookies and other trash. Make sure you check the "DNS Cache" box before running it. That particular box isn't automatically selected. Also, run the "Registry" program as well.

Run "Disk Cleanup" followed by a Defragmentation.

Download, install, and run Malwarebytes. Both malware and spyware significantly slow loading time.

If all else fails, format and install windows. After a couple years of use, files become corrupt and the computer slows down or throws several error codes. At work, heavily used computers (IT and Engineering departments) are formatted every 6 months. The rest are formatted every year.

How much RAM do you have installed?
 
Try upgrading your modem/router

I was have beaucoup problemos with my DSL connection. Slow response, pages refusing to load, I'd have to repeatedly press retry to get pages to load, regardless of browser (although Opera did better than Firefox or IE).

Finally I called the provider (AT&T) and after about five calls finally got a tech who seemed to konw what he was talking about. He said my modem was ancient and needed to be replaced. Period.

So I went to Fry's and $80 later have a Netgear N150 combination DSL modem wireless router. The connection problems have disappeared, no more having to repeatedly reload pages (if at all). I'm pleased with the results. Now I'm even thinking of upgrading my connection speed (it's the cheapest speed available) for another $5/month.

If your DSL modem is 5+ years old, you might try getting a newer one. The combination modem/router is nice because I don't have to baby sit turning on the modem, waiting a while, turning on the router, waiting a while, then turning on the PC. I can turn it on all at once and the combo unit establishes a stable connection automatically.

Oh, and the N150 is a faster wireless connection. None of my devices, so far, need the N150 wireless feature but I guess one never knows what I might get in a year or two.
 
I've encountered quite a few PC's recently (friends) that are just a few years old and only support 1 or 2GB. But since they had good CPU's (P4 3.2GB) we upped them to the max and got some decent speed.
YEs, those spyware & alware cleaners are great. I use Ad-aware and it works great.

Toggles, what CPU do you have? To find out go to the Windows Control Panel, then Help at the top of the screen, then about Windows, it'll tell you the amount of RAM you have and what CPU you have.

RAM is pretty cheap these days.
 
So many questions!

Thank you all dearly for the help. I will attend to these questions today after work.

I have CCLeaner, but it makes me nervous that it appears to gets rid of latest updates to windows etc. Ran it a few times though! In cleans the registry files!

Best regards!
 
Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the same problem - sometimes the pages would load and sometimes they wouldn't. I talked with tech support at my ISP (which just happens to be the company I work for) and they determined the modem was bad so they replaced it again (modems are included with their internet). I've had to replace the modem almost once a year. I also used a router and still the problem persisted sometimes so I removed the router and all has been well ever since.

Gary
 
Steve,

Turn off your modem and PC, then turn them back on in the same order.
The modem lights should be all green.
If you still have a red light, call your DSL company to look at your lines to make sure it does not have a splitter or static within the line.
Also, find out how far is your central office in your hood.
The further you are from the office, the slower the speeds.

Another thing, find out how much space you have on your C Drive. Windows requires 15 to 25 % for windows to operate efficiently!

In your IE, go to tools/Internet Options/Browsing History/Settings and set to 50 MB.
This should help loading pages quickly since it does not have to look through multiple pages that already been saved in your temp file.
Looking through 50 temp files beats looking through 250 or more.
 
Larry

You're an angel! I changed my IE settings and it looks like it is in Turbo mode now!

BTW, I know there are a lot of members here raving about Firefox, but I had to remove it from my computer. It was much slower than IE8 and it got stuck very often. Lately it didn't even start up at all but it didn't let me remove it either. After many times rebooting the computer I was able to remove it. My computer was at it's slowest when I used Firefox.
 
It seems that Firefox 3.6 does run a lot slower on older PC's. I think 3.6 is optimized for Windows 7. It runs fast on those machines. I am using FF 3.6 and the startup time is 45 seconds. But once it's up, it goes pretty fast.
 
 
I'm running Firefox 3.6.3 on Win2K, no sluggishness here. The cache is set at 75 MB. I did run into trouble recently with what apparently was an update on the free version of AVG causing Firefox to drag and even time-out opening sites. Tried free Avira, it was worse, complete freeze-up every 5 mins or so. Avast is working nicely.

I helped a friend yesterday with IE8 gone wrong on Vista, taking a very long time to open sites and often freezing-up. No joy in finding the problem, so I installed Firefox. IE couldn't even download Firefox, I had to download it on my computer then transfer it over.

I disagree about Windows needing to be reinstalled on a regular basis. The WinNT system at an office where I work was built by me in July of 1998, which makes it almost 12 years old. It runs 24/7 (for fax and voicemail, as well as general office/accounting use) and has never had the OS reinstalled. The original C drive went bad, was replaced probably 6 to 8 years ago but the data was restored by an image backup, not a reinstall.
 
I would have looked at it!

You should have told me whilst I was there on Saturday. I would have been happy to help clean up your pc of "unnecessary" files ;-) Be careful with some of the free cleaners; they can clean one too many files and then your whole system is toast. Could be anything from a badly fragmented hard drive, to an overloaded hard drive, needing more RAM, or your ISP provider isn't living up to their promise. Always a phone call away!

Brian
 
One of my Favorite spots ...

If you wonder about your computers performance I quick trip to Pc Pit-stop will give you a lot of info. It will even show your computers ranking compared to all in it's data base, right now my machine is ranked 14 overall.

It will tell you what you have running and if it's needed or optional, it will check for outdated drivers, though I don't use their service to update drivers I go to the item's website. It will also show disk usage and such. Very comprehensive and free. You can test with or without an free account.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/
 
firefox6.x

Also is totally lame under Windows 7.I've gone back to 3.5.9
We have several unfortunate problems coming together at once.
First, there have been several security risks found in Adobe programs, including Flash Player.
Second, several Java versions have major problems with Firefox (this problem is now fixed after updating).
Third, as mentioned above, there are some problems with antivir (also the paid versions) as well as McAffee.It's just a bad time right now.
Until it's fixed, Chrome is doing pretty well.
 
Firefox 3.6

Overall, I was (somewhat) impressed by 3.6 vs earlier versions. It seems a bit faster than 3.5, and--as far as I can tell--it's reliable. However, my experience is not necessarily what others will have--I run Firefox on Linux, not Windows.

But I don't use Firefox daily. Even with speed improvements, it's still too slow on ancient hardware. Right now, I'm using Chrome. It's somewhat a concern, since there are those rumors how Google might be using it to spy on us, although after much reflection, it occurred to me that they won't learn much of value about me based on my browsing habits. (Now, for a quick glance into the Google Spy On Chrome Users Center: "Oh no! Not again! No! Please no!" [Loud scream of anquish. So loud it makes the loudest scream in horror movie sound like a barely audible whimper.] "He did it! He's looking at more @#%Q#@@ old washing machines! Get a life! GET A LIFE!")

Chrome is a little sluggish at times on my hardware, although I've been pleasantly surprised. Opera is probably, overall, faster...but Chrome seems faster at some things, and I like the fact that every tab has its own process, which should give performance advantages. It ought to be a good experience on a more recent system.
 
.
Joeekaitis: I faled the latency test. LOL
PeteK: Couldn't even open/load the speed test.
Qsd-dan: CCLeaner has been run. Must install Malwarebytes!

My RAM was 640k. This evening after work I picked up 2 gigs of RAM (1 gig per card) and intalled it. $85 later, my system seems somewhat smoother and faster.

Nurdlinger: I have Windows XP Version 5.1 copyright 2007.
Sudmaster: A new modem sounds great. I called my ISP - VERIZON- and Sanjeev in India (Pakistan?) has detected a problem with my DSL and has dispatched both central-offce checks and a real-live techincician to field-check my line.

MattL: Thanks for that. I went with 2 gigs RAM. As previously mentioned, I have WIndows XP Version 5.1 from 2007. I have an Emachins brand desktop, Model# T3985 with an Intel processor of 2.93 GHz. My RAM is reported/recognized as 1.98 GHz. My available memory is 2,079,472 KB.

Country Guy: I asked Sanjeev to check my modem's software and the modem itself. He replied that the modem appears to be OK. I forgot to pursue updated software for the modem. I'll call them/him back.

Larry: Took your advice and moved browsing history setting to 50 MB. Seems to be quicker already! uhm... can't find how to determine how much space is open on the "C" drive. Sorry. You may have to spell it out for me (no snickering! I hear all of you! (LOL).

Interestingly when I was in search of system information, I mouse-clicked on a button to get it. Here is an indication that Windows has some corrupted files:

"An error occurred accessing the Windows CardSpace"

So, so far some tweaking of settings, more RAM and the ISP is working on getting a better signal over my DSL........

The original problem continues.......
 
You can also check your windows file integrity by running this utility:

Start-Run sfc /scannow

Be sure you have a copy of your Windows XP disk on hand, it may ask for it.

640k? You must have had more ram than that, I have never seen Windows run on less than 256MB.
 
I'm using Firefox 3.6 on Win 7 with no issues, seems pretty fast to me. Had the warnings about Java but ignored them.

The last anti-virus software I paid for was Kaspersky last year, when it expired I decided I'm not paying for any anti-virus software any more. Using Microsoft Security essentials and it seem to work fine, no issues. I also use Avira and several others on my various computers, but slowly I'm migrating to Microsoft.

The one thing I just recently did was put in a new hard drive. I got a Western Digital Black with 64mb of cache and that thing is a speed demon. EVERYTHING loads almost instantly. Made the biggest improvement after a quad processor and lots of ram. It sure is a looooonggg way from my first Atari 400 computer.
 
Malewear?

QUOTE: Qsd-dan: CCLeaner has been run. Must install Malwarebytes!

Malwarebytes was install and has been run overnight. No Malware was found.

Thank you for that!
 
I'm glad that the tip helped a little bit fellas!

Steve, I'm looking up your skirt, I mean your pictures and I see you have a router.
Did you lock your router down to keep other people from piggy backing on your DSL line?
Other people can ride your beautiful backside for free without you knowing, using your ISP as a door knob to heaven, but stealing your bandwidth joy,
making you crawl deeper into digital slow down hell!?!
Please let me know so we can lock it down and protect you from a digital STD!
 

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