Internet Connection

[cats4jan]

I know this isn't a PSE issue, but can anyone help me with "housekeeping" that could help speed up surfing the 'net?

DH's computer is running so slow, it's almost unusable. He is connected by wires to a router and cable modem that I share. I am having no trouble.

He has Windows XP.

I recently defragged his hard drive and I don't think he's having trouble running software - just surfing the 'net.

[Roln]

Hi Janice,

Here is the speed test I use occasionally: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
I usually get between 7 and 8 mbs. There are eight cities listed...just click on each one and wait for the test to finish. The speed from each city will vary, probably due to the load on their server.
Check the speed on yoiur puter and his too. If the speeds are the same, then you'll know if it's the computer having a problem.
If your DH's puter is over two years old....maybe he should upgrade?? LOL

Roln

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Hi Jan,

The trouble is probably all of the software he has loaded and perhaps unloaded over the years. I had this problem with two laptops that I own. One of these I use in my class and it got so bad I could not play a PowerPoint slide show with sound.

You could spend a lot of time with registry cleaning software, but I just "bit the bullet" and reloaded Windows XP with a "clean install." Needless to say you must have a backup plan that is bulletproof. And, you must have a copy of Windows XP. Here is what I did:

1/ Off load any user files to an external hard drive. I have a 500 GB external unit so this was no problem.

2/ Load Windows XP and tell the program to create a new NTFS file system.

3/ Once Windows is loaded, go to the Microsoft website and get all of the updates since your copy was released. This will take time.

4/ Put back on the machine only the software that you actually use. In my case, I only replaced a few products like PSE, Microsoft Office, etc. Note, since my machine is not used to surf the net, I did not reload Norton Antivirus. If you do likewise, DO NOT use this machine on the Internet except for software updates. I suggest you do use Norton 360 or some other AV software if this is not the case.

5/ Return your user files to the machine.

One of the byproducts of this exercise is that you will learn a lot about your machine and the Windows operating system. If, one day, your machine crashes, this knowledge will come in handy. Take careful notes! In my case, the machine is running like the day I first brought it home. As they say: "Your milage may vary."

Cheers,

Bob

I know this isn't a PSE issue, but can anyone help me with "housekeeping" that could help speed up surfing the 'net?

DH's computer is running so slow, it's almost unusable. He is connected by wires to a router and cable modem that I share. I am having no trouble.

He has Windows XP.

I recently defragged his hard drive and I don't think he's having trouble running software - just surfing the 'net.

[cats4jan]

Robert -

I had the "pleasure" of doing what you suggested with one of my computers that was malfunctioning. I wiped out the hard drive and reinstalled Windows. And you are so right, I sure learned alot about my computer and it also taught me not to fear trying any of this.

However, we wouldn't bother with a clean install of that computer. Because of it's age and how seldom he uses it, it's not worth the effort.

Rebooting seemed to help the internet problem - so he's doing OK today.

But I figured, there was some housekeeping I could do - getting rid of cookies or something - that might speed up surfing the 'net.

Robert and Roln - Thanks for your suggestions.