Computer help forum: Online browsing speeds deteriorating over time

Windows XP 64 bit does exist and I have one.

While older computers do run slower they run fast enough to browse the web. when I found my computer running slow I bought a good registry cleaner one that came highly recommend right here on CNET.
I have CCleaner, advast, and malwarebytes, but they did not find all the little things hiding in my registry the new program found over 800 items lurking in there, once removed my 5 year old laptop runs like it did when new.
I suggest a good registry cleaner I know some will say the free CCleaner is great all I know is it didn't clean my computer.

Which registry cleaner are you referring to, Lee?

Don't worry. It'll slow down over time. Don't believe you're immune to everything that a PC gets just because you run OSX. Part of the price you pay as a PC user for a much more powerful platform.

Your internet slowing down can be due to numerous reasons, it could be a problem with your computer, , adding more devices, router, phone line issues (if you have ADSL), the ISP has slowed down, or the website your visiting is using more things.

Firstly lets try and eliminate anything that could be going on with your computer.

On your computer are you running any type of file sharing software in the background for example uTorrent, Limewire, Bearshare, etc if you are stop these. These can slow your internet down because whilst they are running in the background anything you have downloaded with them will be uploaded and shared with the community using your bandwidth, that's how P2P sharing works.

There are also other types of software out there that have P2P hidden in them and these can also slow your computer down - for example World of Warcraft uses P2P to install updates, some online players use P2P to share content with other users, some online TV players had Kontiki built in which shares files without telling you, BBC iPlayer used to use this (they've since stopped using this)

There is also other software that can be using your PC and slowing it down, some of it can be spyware, adware, malware. Sometimes even with the best and most up to date antivirus and antispyware in the world these can be missed. If you have any strange toolbars installed, like Alot, Ask, etc these can slow your computer down, try uninstalling all the toolbars (Google toolbar is normally safe, but even that takes up some internet time)

Then there is Adobe Flash, Flash can really slow your computer down, especially with more and more websites using Flash for interactive advertising down the side. You can disable flash in the plugins, and usually disabling it you will see a serious increase in speed, especially if your on a slow internet connection (I'm in a rural area of Shropshire, UK and we have a speed of 2mbps (if we're lucky), just turning Flash off sees a massive increase in speed). The only problem with turning flash off is that some websites need Flash switched on to work, so you need to turn it off when you don't want your computer to spend ages trying to download an interactive advert, and then turn it back on when you need to use websites like YouTube, or Farmville, etc. With HTML5, Flash should disappear and that should speed things up, but until more companies like YouTube adopt a HTML5 version of their websites over Flash we're stuck with this old technology.

Another thing you can try to speed your connection up is to switch to using Google Chrome, I know someone has already suggested you to try Firefox and you found no difference. With Google Chrome you should find an immense difference in speed, I switched years ago from IE to Firefox and then went to Chrome and now whenever I go on another computer that's running Firefox I find it so much more slower than using Chrome.

Now moving on to problems beyond your computer...

Another problem that could be slowing your internet down is the amount of devices being connected to it, and I'm not just on about in your house.

Unless you have an absolutely dedicated line all internet connections at some point share the connection with other people, this is the contention ratio. The higher the contention ratio is the slower your internet will be, and the way it works is for example

At your ISP's exchange they might be supplying internet in at 100mbps and then splitting that 100mbps between 50 houses in the area. Now if all 50 users were to go online all at the same time and use their network flat out then you would expect each person to be downloading at 2mbps if you split it fairly (100/50 = 2) however it's not as simple as that. Some people in the area can end up with slightly faster speeds, which is taking it from the others, there is a restriction on how much it can take so if no-one else in the area was using the internet at the time you wouldn't automatically receive the full 100mbps, the speed you'd receive would depend on numerous other issues as well, such as type of cable (fibre or copper), distance from the exchange, and any restrictions your ISP may have applied). But you might find that your getting slightly slower speeds because some other people in your area are getting slightly faster.

Of course with more and more people using the internet and more and more devices needing access this is also increasing demand. So years ago you might have had this 100mbps service 10 people who had the internet in your neighbourhood but the exchange had capacity to share that across 50 connections, then over the years 40 more people in your area decided they want the internet, suddenly you now have 50 people and they are all still sharing that 100mbps service, so now it's going slower because the exchange is working at full capacity. In addition to this years ago each household might have had one or two computers connected to the internet and only using it to surf the web and send and receive e-mails which doesn't use the full 2mbps. But now you don't just have one or two computers in each house, you might have one main desktop, a couple of laptops, smartphones, tablets, interactive TV's (and in some cases even interactive white goods like the fridge!) and all of these are competing for this speed, and many of them aren't just doing a simple browse the net and download e-mails, many are trying to provide a far more multimedia experience, instead of just sending text down the line which takes up very little, many are sending image data, audio data, and video data so that can all cause slow downs.

There isn't just devices in your neighbourhood you have to think about, there is also devices in your own house as well. All these if they are connected to your router are all taking so much away from your internet speed. This time you are making your own contention level in your house.

E.g. in our house we get 2mbps from our line I have a smartphone, my laptop, my desktop, my PS3, my Xbox 360 so already that's 5 devices all sharing that 2mbps connection, then adding to that we also have an interactive TV box, Wii, VOIP phone, my sisters laptop, my mums laptop so yet another 5 devices, so if all 10 devices were to use the internet equally flat out we'd each only get 0.2mbps.

As well as more people connecting to the exchange in your area slowing your internet down you can also face the same problem with over usage of the radio spectrum in the area. Where we are we're lucky as we have 5 houses in our area, and out of the 5 houses only 3 have wi-fi. But in some really built up areas you may find you have 20 houses and when you do a scan of wi-fi in your area you may find you have 20 routers as well. Each one of those routers needs a specific frequency to operate on, whilst one router is sending data on that frequency another router has to wait it's turn to send data or else the two will conflict. Kind of like when you go into an area that has two radio stations on the same frequency, you can't hear either one because it's constantly switching between the two - in Manchester, UK - Key 103 and Kiss 102 are really good at doing that due to how close the two frequencies are. So if your using wi-fi you will find that the more routers in the area, again the more slower the internet will be. The best solution in this case would be to invest in an 802.11N router and 802.11N wi-fi cards for your devices, or look at sending the internet through the mains sockets instead of using wi-fi.

So as you can see there can be numerous reasons for a slow internet connection and pinpointing it can be a nightmare, one more final thing as well is that if you are on ADSL and not fibre optic broadband check your ADSL filters as sometimes they can go and they seriously affect speed when they go, you can normally tell if your ADSL filter has gone by picking up the phone that is connected to the filter (if there isn't one connect one to the phone socket and leave the router plugged into the other socket), then call someone, if you can hear a distinct high pitched tone over the top of the call then your filter isn't doing it's job). Also if your on ADSL ensure you plug your router into the first phone line in the house, do not use any extensions as this can cause problems with the internet as well.

Complete BS

One thing I've experienced which *might* help is to see if you can find a drop-down box when you go to run the update where it says "Run as Administrator". I've only ever used this at work (a University) so this may not be an option on your system.

I just thought to go and look on "Mission Control's" Vista computer. Find Windows Update under all programs. Right Click it. "Run as Administrator" is right up top of the drop down list!

Please report back if it works as I'm sure lots of people would like to know.

Best regards,

David Walland

I

How does one get the GOODLE CHROME? Does it cost. I too find some websites unbearable slow; I run IOLO System Mechanic, Use free AVG/ and Zone alarm, keep computer clean, and running smooth, for an old senior gal of nearly 68, lol.

CNET is one the best help prgorams out there, I am so glad that LEE is still publishing news for we computer users, no matter what age, lol. Thanks, Helene of OKC

Your technology is getting a little old and it might be time
for an upgrade; however, if that is not an option, I recommend the following:

1. Test your Broadband speed: Speedtest (http://speedtest.net)
2. Download Malwarebytes. Install and run it. Clean computer.

3.
Download CCleaner.
Install and analyze. Fix all problems.
Run the registry Cleaner in CCLeaner. Fix all problems. Run registry
cleaner until no problems found

4.
Try browsing now.

5.
If still slow, gather all your software and the
corresponding keys for a reinstall. Additionally,
visit windows updates and manually download all the XP updates (there are three
XP Service packs). While at the MSFT Download Center, download
the office updates (if you have an OFFICE suite) and Internet Explorer 8.

6.
Download the current drivers for all your
printers, scanners, cameras and MP3 players (or IPOD). Additionally,
check for any softwares updates that are available and download them.

7.
Do you have an external back up? If not purchase
one. You will use it to back up your
current information and to create a system image. A system image will make this restoration process
much less painful and less time consuming in the future. =)

8.
After purchasing external backup, back up all
your personal information.

Don't forget to back up your contacts, browser bookmarks, documents, pictures, videos, and anything else you don't want to lose.
9.
Find a good drive imaging program: Drive Image (free) and Arconis
True Image Home ($$$ but worth every penny).

10.
Now for the reinstall. Make sure your computer
is not hooked up to the Internet.

11.
If you have a restore disk, use it to restore
your computer to its birth state.

If your system restore disk allows it, do a clean install of Windows (preferred) instead.
12.
If you don't have a restore disk, install
Windows XP first.

13.
Install all of the XP service packs that you had
previously downloaded.

14.
Install drive imaging program and make a system
image. You will make another later.

15.
Remove bloatware (unnecessary or unwanted software) from your computer. Go to
control Panel/ Add Remove programs and remove any software that you do not use
or need.

Eliminate this step if you did a clean install of Windows XP.
16.
Install antivirus software or a suite of virus
protection and firewall: AVG
is a good free one

17.
Install a good firewall: Zone
Alarm (free and paid)

18.
Install your updated browsers. If you like
Firefox, I highly suggest the Following add-ons:


a.
No Squint -
easy way to make the print bigger on web pages

b.
Flash Block - Blocks flash; however, gives you a
button so that if you do want to watch the Flash you can

c.
Adblock Plus -
I don't like ADS!

d.
Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus - I don't
like text ADS either!

e.
Better Privacy

f.
Foxy Proxy Standard

19.
Install your peripherals: printer, scanner, camera, and music player.

20.
Install all the other software that you use.
Be sure to watch all the screens for toolbars
and extras and don't install them unless you need them. Now is a good time to install CCleaner
and Malwarebytes
and Smart
Defrag.

21.
Run Anti Malwarebytes, CCleaner, and Smart
Defrag and your system is ready to create another disk image.

22.
Make a system image. If you bought a 500
Gigabyte External drive or less, eliminate this image.

23.
Hook computer back up to the internet.

24.
Run windows update. Install all the updates you need and keep doing this until there are
no more updates.

25.
Make a final system image. This is the one you will use to restore your
computer in the future.

26.
You should have a faster computer now and with a
little regular maintenance, it should stay that way.
27.
Every 6 - 9 months, if your computer is running slow, use the final system image to restore your computer.
28.
Upgrade to Windows 7. It is more secure! If you are a visual person
or someone who likes to use a touchscreen, wait for Windows 8. Although
I personally don't like the user interface in the Developers Preview of
Windows 8 (late this year), it does have a lot of new and free
applications. Additionally, it seems to be as stable as Windows 7.


RNH

If I clone my hard drive to an external hard drive, then can I format my hard drive and then reinstall from the external hard drive? Would that help some with speed? And, I always have a problem with Ctrl+Alt+Del in that if I stop a program my computer ask for instructions when starting up again. Something about msconfig.

know what you are doing AND what to expect.

After I run my personal computer for a couple of years I have a LOT of stuff on there that I take for granted. Some software I bought with a CD. Some I downloaded and some is just free-ware.

To re-install all this would be almost impossible and could be VERY costly if I can't find all the CD's, Key's etc. Some products may no longer be available and I may have to purchase upgrades.

I am "old School" so I have one folder that contains ALL my data - I never let it default to where the software wants to put it. So at least I can find all my data. Can you?

That's one reason that I suggested trying Linux (Ubuntu) in an earlier response. That way you can see if Windows is all of your problem before you decide to re-install it.

IF YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO RE-INSTALL - CONSIDER BUYING A NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM!! That way you will still have all your forgotten programs etc available on your old system and, believe it or not, it might actually be cheaper in the long run. Really depends on how much stuff you do on your computer - I use mine a lot and for many, many applications.

One thing I have never tried is unloading the registry and rebuilding it instead of re-installing the software. I think this should work but have never investigated further. You can unload the registry entries for each application - I would store them with the application, or in my data area. Then when you have re-installed windows, you can "re-load" the entries for the software that you still want to use. If everything else is where it was originally that should effectively take care of most of the install. Individual programs may have other requirements but if everything else is where it was and you haven't deleted Cookies, then I think this should work.

If anyone has tried this or has any other input I would be really interested to hear from you.

First, I had to get a new computer after 10 years (old one had only 256RAM and slow processor; today's web pages are too rich for that).

Second, once a week I run cleaners/defrags, etc.

Third, I experimented with various browsers. (Have to keep IE installed, though, because some pages will only render properly with IE). Opera seemed faster than Chrome, then I found the PC version of Safari even faster yet. It also seems to test faster on some testing services. (And a bonus: it has a "reader" function that shows text-only for some news web pages, including those that may block you out if you don't have a subscription). Ironic that an Apple product works better in a PC environment... or maybe not ironic.

First, a 5 year old computer is fairly old in terms of computer years (for a computer that has not been upgraded or repaired, I generally use 1 computer year equals about 15 human years). At 5 years there could be many issues going on with it including a failing hard drive which can often result in extremely slow response. But it could also have many other possible problems such as infections, full hard drive, Clogged cooling system, corrupted operating system or simply just need a really good cleaning. Since you are not complaining of slowness in other areas of the computer except the internet, I am going to have to assume that there is nothing physically wrong with your computer and focus on Internet related issues primarily.

And yes, the internet in general has become slower due to the amount of content delivered on websites. Websites are full of photos, video and display ads that all require longer to load. So an older computer is going to have to work that much harder.

The very first thing to do is run an internet speed test just to give you a baseline to start from and to rule out any major issues with your internet service. I like to use 2 or more test websites just to get an average. (I am going to assume you live in the US) NOTE: Ignore any and all of the ads for speeding up your computer, just run the speed test.
http://www.speedtest.net
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
http://speedtest.comcast.net

The results can vary widely depending on the type of Internet service you have, but for example: I just ran a test on my Business Verizon Fios connection with my Wireless Laptop and the result was Ping 18, Download 23Mbps, Upload 21Mbps. I ran the same test on my hardwired (not wireless) desktop and the result was Ping 10, Download 35Mbps and upload 31Mbps. When I run the same tests from many of my client's homes that have some form of broadband cable connections such as Comcast or RCN the normal results can range anywhere from a download speed of 5Mbps to 25Mbps and an upload speed of between 2Mbps and 20Mbps. If you have DSL service, your numbers will be much lower.
If you don't know what speed to expect from your service they you may need to call your Internet Service Provider or check your bill to find out what speed service you are actually paying for. Many service providers offer different speeds to choose from, at a price of course.
NOTE: The results that you get will vary depending on many factors such as how many devices you have on your network, wired or wireless, the quality of your wireless connections as well as many other factors. The most accurate speed test will be with a single computer connected directly to the broadband modem (not wireless and not through a router).

If your speed test results are much lower than you expected, then the first thing to do is Reboot your Broadband modem and router (If you have one). You can usually do this by simply unplugging the power from both your modem and router - wait 60 seconds - Plug in the Modem first - Wait 60 seconds - then plug in the router - wait a few minutes and run the speed test again. If the results are still low, then you may need to call your Service Provider and have them refresh your modem and run a test from their end.

If your speed test results are within the expected range then it is time to move on to performing some general cleaning and maintenance on your computer.

The two biggest things that can slow down your Internet Browser are extra Add-ons such as toolbars and too many temporary internet files, history and cookies. Here are a few suggestions:

ADD-ONS (or as I call them ADD-TIME) - Every extra toolbar that you have can add to the time it takes for your Browser to open. So if you have 3 or more toolbars such as Yahoo toolbar, Google toolbar, ASK toolbar, Norton Toolbar, Printer toolbars and a few others that you don't even know what they are, you can be certain they are slowing you down. My suggestion is to remove all toolbars from your computer by uninstalled them from Add/remove programs and then if you really want one or two of them back, download and install the latest/newest versions of them. Next Click on the Tools menu in Internet Explorer and Select Manage Add-ons. You will be presented with a list of all the add-on left on your system. You have the option to disable or enable each one. Go down through the list and disable the ones that you do not want. If you are not sure about some of them go ahead and look them up on Google. If you mess up you can always just re-enable any of them. NOTE: you will need to close and reopen your browser to see the results.

DELETING TEMP FILES - There are several free utilities that can help you clean up all the temporary and junk files in one or two clicks such as CCleaner (www.download.com). Or you can even use the Free utilities that are built into Windows. Cleaning using Windows built-in tools: 1. Open Internet Explorer 8 2. Click on the Tools Menu 3. Select Internet Options 4. Click on the Delete button under Browsing History 5. Check the items that you want to delete and click on Delete 6. Close Internet Explorer 7. Click on the Start menu and Select All Programs 8. Navigate to Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup 9. Select the C: drive from the Drop down menu and click on OK 10. Wait, check the items that you want to delete and click on OK 11. Done

MALWARE SCAN - Regardless of what kind of security software you are running I would recommend running a quick scan with Malwarebytes (www.download.com) just to make sure your security did not overlook something. No one security product is 100% effective and it is always comforting to get a second opinion.

SECURITY SOFTWARE - Many of the OLDER versions of Norton, McAfee, Webroot and others can be incredible resource hogs and slow down your entire computer. Also having more than one active security product installed at the same time can cause all kinds of issues as well. Make sure you are running only one and using the most recent version.

RESET INTERNET EXPLORER - In some case, Internet Explorer may be damaged and you might have to resort to Resetting it back to the default settings. NOTE: This will remove all Add-ons, toolbars, preferences, and homepage settings. You will need to download and reinstall some add-ons such as things like Adobe Flash (if needed). This is performed from the Tools menu > Internet Options > Advanced > click on the Reset button.

SWITCH BROWSERS - Some people find that they like a different browser for surfing the Internet. So instead of using Internet Explorer, you could try Firefox or Chrome. Some people find Firefox slow to open the first time after starting your computer and then much faster after that. At the moment Chrome is probably the fastest, but this changes all the time. Microsoft has made the decision to NOT offer their latest browser which is Internet Explorer 9 to those of us that still use Windows XP, so to keep up with the latest technology in browsers you may want to make the switch to one of the alternative.

HOME PAGE - The home page that you have your browser set to can also tend to make it seem like your Internet is slow. Opening to complex pages that have a lot of content, video, photos and ads can take much longer that simply opening to something like www.google.com.

WIRELESS NETWORKS - If your computer is on a wireless network there can be a whole other set of variables affecting your browsing speed and if you use multiple Access points, wireless boosters or repeaters, the potential problems are just multiplied. It sounded like you have just the one computer so I am guessing that this is not your problem. This would be a whole new discussion.

NEW TEST ACCOUNT - Sometimes it can be helpful to try a new clean User account on your computer just to rule out certain issues. From the Start Menu click on control panel and select User Accounts > Click on Create a New Account > Give it a name like TEST > and assign it as an administrator account. Then shut down your computer and restart. You will be presented with a choice to log into your original account or the New TEST account. Log into the TEST account and try your Internet browser from there. If the new TEST account works well, then you have the choice to either create a new account for yourself and copy all your data over from your old account or go back to your original account and continue troubleshooting it until you find the problem. NOTE: When done testing you can go back into User Accounts and delete this TEST account if you want.

I wish I could be more specific but unfortunately, not having all the details leaves us with having to either guess, assume certain facts or give you a bunch of possible solutions that may not even apply to your system. It would be really helpful to have some more details here such as:

The Make and Model of the Computer or some more specs on the machine?
What kind of internet service do you have? DSL, Cable, FIOS, Satellite, Dialup, Cellular?
Is your computer directly connected to a Modem? Through a Router? Or Wirelessly?
What Security Software are you running? Norton IS, McAfee, AVG, MSE, etc.? Any Firewall?

Best of Luck!

Dana
Wayland Computer

I just have one thought about these speedtests....I am a comcast user, and over the last couple of years i've noticed a a major slowdown in buffering videos, and general surfing and have tried more than a few browsers as well as formatting my hard drive and everything else everyone has mentioned in this forum. The one consistancy that I have noticed though is that all of the afore mentioned speedtests are sponsored by Comcast and therefore are unreliable sources. We need to find an independant source for these speedtests . Just my opinion... Digger