Why's my computer slow?
 

I've got a fairly new computer, with a high speed cable modem. Just recently my downloads seem to be hanging up. Is this because I just installed a wireless router? Is there any way to find out what's causing the slowdown? I'm running XP. I'm guessing the wireless system is the problem... but can't change that as we've rearranged the house! Any suggestions?

Re: Why's my computer slow?
 

Too easy.... ;)

OK, ok....I feel guilty.

1) WiFi is an order of magnitude slower than what you can shove thru an ethernet cable.

2) Encryption (WEP) and MAC filtering both reduce your bandwidth over WiFi (not suggesting you disable them, though).

Could be any number of things, up to and including a virus/worm trying to spread itself, or using your PC for sending spam emails.

Download, install, and run Spybot - Search and Destroy , and make sure you have antivirus software that is kept current. New viruses are discovered every day, and most antivirus software had updates weekly.

Make sure you have all the critical updates from Microsoft. Most worms exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft software, one way to avoid them is to fix the holes.

My personal opinion is never use Outlook. Lots of free mail clients out there, without the "features" that make outlook so enticing to bug-writing-jackasses.

Tom

Tom

A 2.4GHz phone can mess with many wireless NIC.

You can also go to www.dslreports.com and check out the speed tests... This will at least tell you if you're getting the download rates advertised.

When I signed up for 1.5MBPS cable service, I found I was only getting about 384kbps... Made the cable company do a line and service upgrade bcause of it.

I've never had throughput issues with WiFi... In fact most WiFi operates at speeds much higher than Cable or DSL services... So your issue is more than likely some problem with your internet config, interference (as was suggested) or some sort of tuning issue...

Check with your provider about settings. I use XP and have no throughput issues at all...

First test results were 506 kbps down and 273 kbps up. Tried again and got 1397 / 172, then 1497 / 164, and 1893 / 175. Are the download and upload speeds usually so far apart?

Yes.

Your results are about half what I see, but the ratios are about the same.