Fixing Slow Internet and Networking Computer Problems

Make your internet connection, and web browsing experience feel faster by changing a few simple settings on your computer or router.

I'll teach you how to quickly fix your slow internet network download speeds by using software to troubleshoot your computer, or replacing your networking hardware devices with faster networking devices like network cards, modems, and routers.

Slow internet is frustrating, but it can be relatively easy to fix once you learn how to troubleshoot and fix problems with your computer's internet properties, or your router and modems settings.

Fixing slowdown problems with your internet and network can also save you money and time since you might not have to buy a new router, modem, upgrade to a more expensive faster internet plan, or hire someone to make your home network and internet faster if you do it yourself.

The major problem with Windows is there are millions of viruses and spyware which can attack Windows, so it is best to install an Antivirus, and Antispyware program for your Windows computer to avoid harmful viruses, and spyware from attacking your computer and making it slow.

Viruses and spyware can use up a lot of your computer system resources, and use your internet connection to send spam which can slow down your computer, home network, and internet for everyone who uses your home internet.

Occasionally, doing a disk cleanup to remove temporary internet problems can help make your web browser feel faster, and fix problems displaying websites.

TuneUp Utilities 2011 is a great program which you can use to maintain the health of Windows, tweak your network and internet settings, and make sure Windows is running optimally.

Sometimes software can slow down your internet because it slows down your computer which makes your internet seem slower then it actually is.

The first thing you should do is exit all the programs like chat programs, e-mail clients, file sharing programs, etc which you do not need for the internet, but uses your internet connection. These programs use a little or a lot of bandwidth depending on what you are using them for. They can make your internet feel very slow because they are using a lot of bandwidth.

If you notice your computer or internet is still slow after you closed all programs which use your internet, you can try restarting your web browser, closing other software like word processors, etc. Restarting your computer might also help if you notice even after closing and restarting your programs your programs and internet is still very slow. Restarting your computer refreshes your RAM of memory leaks.

In Windows Vista, there is a feature called TCP Autotuning which can also make your computer's internet seem slightly slower. You can disable TCP Autotuning by opening a command prompt window and typing netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

then restarting your computer.

Scanning your computer for viruses, malware, and spyware with an antivirus, and antimalware program can also make your computer and internet faster if your computer security software remove a lot of viruses, spyware, and malware since some malware, spyware, and viruses uses your computer's internet connection to send spam, spy on you, and do other harmful tasks which can make your internet and computer very slow.

You can also try switching to a faster like Google Chrome, or Opera browser to see if they can improve the speed of your internet browsing experience. The latest version of Firefox 6 and Internet Explorer 9 also a lot faster then previous versions in my experience.

Also make sure you are using the latest versions of Adobe Flash Player, Java plug-in, and other plug-ins and toolbars you use for your computer. Usually Firefox, Google Chrome updates you of new updates, or you can just go to the update manager for your plug-ins to check for updates. If you use Internet Explorer, you need to manually go to the plug-in, toolbar maker, or add-on makers website to check for updates.

Updating your Network card driver software, or dial-up modem driver software if you still use dial-up can speed up your network card or modem, but be sure to install the right version. Otherwise, this step can cause your computer to not be able to connect to the internet. Make sure to have a previous version of your network card or dial up modem driver software before you begin updating it just in case you can't go online to download the previous version because the new version of your driver software does not work.

Updating the firmware on your router can also speed up your router's performance and fix problems, but it is also very dangerous. If you lose power, or update the wrong version of your router software. You can break your router.

If you notice your web browser is very slow after installing a lot of add-ons, and toolbars on your web browser, you can try disabling them in your web browser to see if it improves your web browser's performance.

Toolbars, plug-ins, and add-ons slowing down your web browser is mostly common with Internet Explorer and Firefox. It does not really affect Google Chrome, Opera, and other Browsers in my experience.

By disabling add-ons and plug-ins, your web browsers also might crash less then having them turned on since your web browser has fewer running add-ons, and use less RAM.

Gigabit ethernet lets you share files with other computers at 1 Gb per second or faster which is 10 times faster then your standard 100 Mbps connection on most home networks.

802.11N is also the fastest form of wireless wifi networking technology which have speeds up to 150Mbps . It is a great improvement in speed compared to 802.11G which only supports speeds of 54Mbps.

Changing the channel and turning on and off features like Gaming mode, etc can make your wireless internet faster.

If you want to achieve these speeds, you need to have both your computers, Cat6 Ethernet cables, and network adapters to be using Gigabit ethernet certified devices. For wireless N, you need both your router and Wireless Adapter to support Wireless N technology.

Learn how to use Windows Task Manager to see how fast your internet is, see how to change your DNS server to Google DNS in Windows, your Router, or Ubuntu for faster DNS look up speeds which can improve your internet speed, and how to optimize your Wifi router's performance.

Finally, switching to a faster Internet Service Provider, or upgrading your ISP plan would make your internet faster

If you tried all my tips, and still get slow speeds, you should contact your internet service provider to see if they can send someone over to fix your slow internet problem. If they could not, you can try upgrading your cable or DSL internet service plan to a more expensive, and faster ISP plan.

You can also try switching to a different DSL , Cable, or Fibre Internet service provider to see if it improves your internet speed. Fiber and DSL typically has faster download speeds since Cable internet sometimes slow down if your neighbors who is also using the same cable internet as you are downloading a lot of big files. While DSL, and Fiber, you have a dedicated connection, so your neighbors can't slow you down when they are downloading a lot of big files. However, Cable can have faster download speeds if your neighbors are not heavy downloaders or internet users.

In my experience, if a computer is very slow or old, it tends to make using the internet kind of slow as well because the operating system like Windows 98, me, or 2000 is not optimized for the more internet intensive website like Flash Games, YouTube or Facebook, and older computer hardware tends to make HD and sometimes even standard quality video slow down on YouTube, or playing more hardware demanding flash games.

I recommend getting a computer which has at least a 1.8GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, running Windows 7 Home Premium. If you can't afford a computer with at least a1.8 GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM. You can get a Netbook which is good enough for e-mail, average web browsing, and standard quality YouTube video. However, a low end netbook might be too slow for more resource intensive Flash Games, online gaming, and HD video streaming from YouTube or Netflix.