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digger1
I am the frontman of evil, Bobby!
Joined: Sep 13, 2007
Age: 35
Posts: 2232
Location: Augusta, Maine
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 Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:36 am Post subject: WTF is wrong with my internet connection?????????? |
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For whatever reason, sometimes I'll restart the computer and once it comes back on, the little hourglass will become an arrow. I'll know it's done doing whatever it does to restart and I'll click on the internet icon to surf but it'll be SOOOOOO SLOOOOOOW. I click on repair internet connection and it does it's thing but it's still slow!
WTF?
here's an example: I'm TRYING to download updated for the anti-virus that ONE LOUSY MEGABYTE and it's telling me it's going to take ONE DAY, 5 hours, and so many minutes and seconds. It's downloading at a speed of 8 bytes/minute. BYTES, not kilobytes, bites.
I hate this POS. If we get a new quad-core computer tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough.
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I used to be a Mohel but had to quit because I was only paid in tips
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pakled
"Bless his Heart"
Joined: Nov 13, 2007
Age: 50
Posts: 2768
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:15 am Post subject: |
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Ok, a few things we need to know, so that we can help.
1) What operating system?
2) What browser are you using; Firefox, Internet Exploder, etc.
3) How are you connected to the Internet; dial up, DSP, T1,2,3, etc?
4) What ISP (Internet Service Provider; the guys you pay to let you get to the internet)?
5) What Country? (some are monitored, some are state-owned, some have private companies, etc?)
6) What are you trying to download, and from where?
For example; I'm running Windows 2000 (you can stop laughing now... , Firefox 3 on a Pentium 2 with 512 meg of memory, connected to the phone companies' DSL, at about 128k. I can download most 1 meg files in about a minute, or sometimes less. I'm using Ad-aware, and Avast for virus and malware detection.
If you're getting speeds that slow (sounds almost like an acoustic coupler, which is....well, never mind.., look and see if they have a mirror site. Try at 'off' times, (late at night, early in the morning), maybe a download accelerator, which you can find on the Internet here and there. They'll keep track of how much you downloaded, if you have to cut the session short.
Hope this is the start of your solution. |
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Pobodys_Nerfect
Deinonychus
Joined: Mar 11, 2008
Posts: 383
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| Does your virus checker clean out spyware? |
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digger1
I am the frontman of evil, Bobby!
Joined: Sep 13, 2007
Age: 35
Posts: 2232
Location: Augusta, Maine
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:00 am Post subject: |
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1) What operating system?
XP w/sp2
2) What browser are you using; Firefox, Internet Exploder, etc.
Firefox 3.0
3) How are you connected to the Internet; dial up, DSP, T1,2,3, etc?
regular cable internet
4) What ISP (Internet Service Provider; the guys you pay to let you get to the internet)?
Time Warner
5) What Country? (some are monitored, some are state-owned, some have private companies, etc?)
US
6) What are you trying to download, and from where?
Often nothing at all. I'll restart and the internet will all of a sudden be slower than death.
| Pobodys_Nerfect wrote: | | Does your virus checker clean out spyware? |
No but I do have a dedicated spyware program.
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I used to be a Mohel but had to quit because I was only paid in tips
http://www.youtube.com/oliviasdaddy1 |
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spudnik
Cheeky Monkey
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 3419
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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Have you tried cleaning your browsers cache, to many cookies and other garbage can slow your connection down, with Firefox click on the tools button and select clear private data. I would also try power cycling your modem, works for either cable or dsl.
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lau
Quinquaginta Novem! Male Gee-knee-us + silly bits.
Joined: Jun 18, 2006
Age: 59
Posts: 7050
Location: Somerset UK
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject: Re: WTF is wrong with my internet connection?????????? |
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| digger1 wrote: | | ... If we get a new quad-core computer tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough. |
Unfortunately, that would have absolutely no effect on your connection speed.
A few more thoughts, though...
What is a "regular cable connection"?
Have you complained to your ISP yet? That's your first port of call. They can test the connection. You may find you have a hardware fault.
Are you sharing the connection with someone using Limeware? If so, your download times sound normal.
As a quick check you can perform yourself, try http://www.speedtest.net/.
_________________
Oregano, n: The ancient Italian art of pizza folding.
Laws:
Ogden: The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
Oliver: Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
Osborn: Variables won't; constants aren't. |
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digger1
I am the frontman of evil, Bobby!
Joined: Sep 13, 2007
Age: 35
Posts: 2232
Location: Augusta, Maine
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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It's when I restart it becomes slow. It's usually at night or in the morning. Like right now, it's fine but $20 says that if I restarted right now, it would slow to a crawl.
When I say cable internet, I mean I have a broadband connection through my cable TV provider. There's a box that's connected to the 75 ohm co-ax cable and the box is connected to my computer with one of those blue phone cords.
I cleaned my browser cache, temp. internet files and all that. I had to alter my registry to exclude compressing old files. That takes forever!
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I used to be a Mohel but had to quit because I was only paid in tips
http://www.youtube.com/oliviasdaddy1 |
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Fogman
Econo-class Iconoclast
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Age: 41
Posts: 2003
Location: SC, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject: Re: WTF is wrong with my internet connection?????????? |
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| lau wrote: | | A few more thoughts, though...What is a "regular cable connection"?. |
Time Warner/AOL 's standard speed is 3.5Mb down/320Kb up. Up until a year ago, 320Kb was the upload speed limit irregardless of the downstream pipeline.
They now offer 7Mb down/512Kb up for a semi-premim account, and 15Mb down/2Mb up for their premium accounts. --This is a bandwidth filtered CATV connection.
I have no idea of what consumer broadband speeds are like in the UK/EU, however TELCO branded ADSL connections via bandwidth filtered POTS connection has a maximum speed of 3.5Mb down/320Kb up, and standard ADSL service via bandwidth filtered POTS connection is 1.5Mb down/256Kb up.
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Fogman
Econo-class Iconoclast
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Age: 41
Posts: 2003
Location: SC, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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| digger1 wrote: | It's when I restart it becomes slow. It's usually at night or in the morning. Like right now, it's fine but $20 says that if I restarted right now, it would slow to a crawl.
When I say cable internet, I mean I have a broadband connection through my cable TV provider. There's a box that's connected to the 75 ohm co-ax cable and the box is connected to my computer with one of those blue phone cords.
I cleaned my browser cache, temp. internet files and all that. I had to alter my registry to exclude compressing old files. That takes forever! |
Now what you will need to do is run an msconfig via clicking "Start", and clicking on the 'Run' option in your windows start menu. You will see a dialog box pop up when you click 'Run', into which you should type 'msconfig', and press the 'ok' button directly below.
This will open up a tabbed pallete on your display. IGNORE ALL of the tabs except for the rightmost tab labelled 'Startup'. When you click on this tab, you will see a list of checkboxes, which have a (usually rather) cryptic list of items next to them. This will in turn be followed with a command which is in turn followed by a location which is a registry entry.
The rather cryptic list of items is CASE SENSITIVE, and is the list of items that start when you boot your computer into windows. --Many of the items here are Windows components/add on services. Others are third party software that may or may not be malware/spyware. Other items that will start up when you boot your computer are Worms, Trojans, and Viruses.
What we are going to do is go through the list of startup items one by one and check with a database of startup items to determine if they are necessary to leave on, or turn off. Clicking this link will get you to the online database.
Starting with the first item, enter the Startup item EXACTLY as it appears in your list of Startup items and hit enter. The database will tell you what the item is, and what it does, and whether it should be turned off or not. Items such as 'cApp' ( Norton Antivirus) should be left on as turning it off will render it useless, and you will NOT be able to reinstall the software without reformatting your drive. Items such as 'qttask', (Quicktime) 'RealSched'/RealOneMessageCenter', (Both associated with the completely useless RealPlayer) 'msmsgs', (The built in Windows Messaging utility endemic to WinXP), 'LimeWire On Startup, (LimeWire P2P client) as well as entrys associated with MSOffice/MSWorks, can and should be turned off, as these programs do not need to be loaded when you boot your system, they hog memory and are a waste of rescources, as well as greatly slow down your bootup sequence.
Follow the entire list, and deselect the checkboxes on the items that need to be turned off, click 'Apply' after you have made your selections, then reboot your computer. After windows is back up and running, you will see a pallette appear informing you that you have just run the startup configuration utility, and ask if you want to open it up again. Close the pallette. If you inadvertently click on 'yes', the system configuration utility will appear again. --Close it like you would a normal window.
Now that you have all of the bad items turned off, you are still not done yet, as they are still on your system, and need to be removed by the corresponding Spyware, AV, ( You are keeping up with your subscriptions on this, are you not???) or Trojan removal utilities.
ADDENDA:
ALL ITEMS who's command field is 'RunDll16' should be turned OFF, as these are ALL worms, viruses, or Trojans. Enter the startup item in the online database to see which it is, to facilitate removal via AV software or Trojan Remover.
Likewise, the same with all items that have a Command path of 'System32.exe', or any command that has any variant or mention of 'System32.exe, (IE, system32.exe, SYSTEM32.EXE, Rundllsystem32.exe, etc,etc) is either a worm or a Trojan, and must be turned off!
Any items that have a blank entry in the Startup field, is likewise a worm or Trojan, and needs to be turned off.
Pay particular care of items that have a command path of 'RunDll32'/'rundll32' as many of these are Trojans, Keyloggers, Worms, Foistware and Malware. Also using the same 'Rundll32'/'rundll32' are legitimate programs like BlueTooth,ISP/DSL Modem software, Security/anti-phishing, and popup blocker programs, as well as the program that displaye Battery Status Info on IBM/possibly Lenovo Notebook computers. --Pay particular care to look up the particular startup items before you turn them off.
Aside from issues that you may have with your system, there may also be a lot of people in your neighborhood who are also Roadrunner users, which may adversely affect your surf speeds during peak usage hours, especially if there are insufficient/overworked splitter nodes in your neighborhood. --This will occaisionally happen, though NOC tickets are generally not available to the public, other than general sevice/outage advisories, and these are only generally available when you call in for tech support.
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"Blessed are the Distinctly Alien, for they shall inherit the Earth." -- Genesis P. Orridge |
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spudnik
Cheeky Monkey
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 3419
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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Which cable company, I use to work for Comcast, doing technical support, they are a crappy company, with garbage equipment
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Visit me @ Neural Deviant
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Fogman
Econo-class Iconoclast
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Age: 41
Posts: 2003
Location: SC, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| spudnik wrote: | | Which cable company, I use to work for Comcast, doing technical support, they are a crappy company, with garbage equipment |
He has Roadrunner.
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"Blessed are the Distinctly Alien, for they shall inherit the Earth." -- Genesis P. Orridge |
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t0
Deinonychus
Joined: Mar 24, 2008
Posts: 374
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| digger1 wrote: | It's when I restart it becomes slow. It's usually at night or in the morning. Like right now, it's fine but $20 says that if I restarted right now, it would slow to a crawl.
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This sounds like something running at startup that's trashing your connection speed. Could be virus/spyware scanner that's trying to update itself.
Is the computer slow in general at startup? Do apps pop up quickly or do you have to wait to even see the window appear? If so, it could be too many apps set to run at startup and your browser might not be getting the CPU cycles it needs to do its work. |
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ouinon
chemical reaction
Joined: Jul 11, 2007
Posts: 3148
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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Had this problem a few months ago. It turned out to be a combination of a trojan horse and some other virus(es), which had entered despite Norton ( which we have since abandoned; too heavy on memory and no better than lots of others).
The start-up got slower and slower until could hardly do anything with it. We got the local computer doctor, does karate with my son, , to do a clean up. Got rid of the trojan horse, and some other thing which was pretending to be something else. It was like magic . The trojan horse was slowing everything down by downloading other stuff all the time, it kept inviting in another virus over and over again. Including using our line to dial other sites for someone else.
Good luck.
.
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lau
Quinquaginta Novem! Male Gee-knee-us + silly bits.
Joined: Jun 18, 2006
Age: 59
Posts: 7050
Location: Somerset UK
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:13 am Post subject: |
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Nice link. It looks to be more extensive than what comes with Spybot. (Which I always get from http://www.safer-networking.org, as there was a spate of clones and spyware sites that foisted you off with their spyware laden or non-free versions).
What does come with Spybot is an "Advanced Mode" where you'll find a list of start-up items, garnered from "all the usual places" throughout the system. I.e. those in the registry, in AUTOEXEC.BAT and SYSTEM.INI, in the "Startup" folder, and so on. Some of the items it finds it will give some detail on. Many, it doesn't. I turn off ALL items, with the sole exceptions on my AV and one or two other things I explicitly want (such as Skype). That includes turning off all the "really important looking" Windows start-up items that sound as if your machine would never work without them, but strangely enough, it does. The nice thing with Spybot's approach is that it doctors all the items so that you can turn them back on if you want. E.g. the Startup folder items get renamed with an extension that prevents them working.
PS. Don't mess with anything else in Spybot's advanced mode, unless you are feeling advanced. 
_________________
Oregano, n: The ancient Italian art of pizza folding.
Laws:
Ogden: The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
Oliver: Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
Osborn: Variables won't; constants aren't. |
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