Sloooooooow internet

[Sanke]

Hi all

Just lately our internet seems to be getting slower & slower. It has got to the point that my better half nearly though out our laptop !

We have a fairly new D-link sky router. However, at times it can be servicing 3 laptops. 1 desktop, & 4 mobile phones. Should the loading make that much difference ? The laptop is almost 4 years old (wireless without an adapter) , is there a way to speed it up ? Or a better router system ? We have another router if that can be incorporated to improve things ?

Thanks

 

[telectrix]

might just be your pc's need a clean up. junk files etc. i use uniblue registry boost and speed up software .

 

[sparky3366]

which isp are you on?

 

[telectrix]

must be with sky if he's got a sky router.

 

[sparky3366]

DOH!!! missed that... get onto virgin fibre optic, nobody comes near it yet. BT are trying with the infinity thingy but still not close.

 

[Sanke]

Yes we are on sky. No cables in our area for virgin yet.

Just looked at Uniblue £20 to buy ?

 

[Sanke]

The other thing I have noticed is that we have used over 100gb of the 104gb hard drive

 

[telectrix]

well, that won't help. time to clear out the crap. and uniblue is great. run a scan of each once a week.

 

[alarm man]

ive got virgin and it does go slower with 2 laptops connected,have a look on connected devices,the neighbours might be getting free internet..

 

[Sanke]

Hi alarm man
How do I check connected devices ??

 

[telectrix]

easiest way is to make your wireless connection password protected.

 

[alarm man]

Hi alarm man
How do I check connected devices ??

i use vista so control panel-network

 

[Sanke]

Hi guys

Thanks for your help

Checked connected & they all appear to be correct. All computers listed. Router & printer

Router is password protected

I will look more into the registry fix etc

Cheers

 

[Marvo]

Check all the obvious first. Run a full anti-virus scan on your entire network with the router switched off. Go through each device that has a windoze os and run msconfig and check what's running in the background. Check your firewall setup on all devices and on the router. Set static ipaddresses for everything and set up protocol rules for each device etc.

With the internet speed of any uk isp you should have very fast internet. If you're unsure about the technical side of firewalls find a teenager..preferably one that looks like he's allergic to soap, with thick rimmed glasses and the more acne the better... and pay him a few quid to do it for you.

 

[Sanke]

Hi Marvo
First confession. I am not running any anti virus at the moment. Any suggestions as t whuch to get ?

Not sure about msconfig ? I have a spotty teenager but for his own safety dont think he should touch my laptop !

 

[Marvo]

For most users anti-virus is a must have. There's loads of great free options available, Avast, AVG and so on, take your pick. Just download a redistributable version of one of them, copy it to each pc and install. Update each one then shut down the router and scan every pc.

You can download the 32bit version of AVG here just click on the link on the right hand side of the page where it says

Download
Latest Version
151.20MB

You might need the 64 bit version for your pc's so check first.

 

[Sanke]

Hi Marvo
I am ahead of you. Half way through downloading AVG now

I have lookad at msconfig but not really sure what I should be doing/looking at

 

[topquark]

If all of the laptops are on wireless you may find that the speed degradation is due to the number of wireless users in your area. See what channel the router has been set to and try a few other channels (or try auto channel selection). Otherwise all of your laptops (and possibly neighbours may be sharing the bandwidth on a single channel). It would be better to be hard wired if possible, then you'd probably get better response (you can try connecting one of the laptops to the router via Ethernet cable and see if the problem is alleviated).

 

[Sanke]

Hi topquark
The router is already set to auto (no facility to change) All laptops are wireles but I can try connecting this one via ethernet to see if it speeds up

 

[topquark]

That'll tell you if it's the wireless side or the ISP side that has the issue. If you still have slow response when connected via Ethernet then it's down to diagnosing the sky setup (or raise a support ticket for it).