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General discussion

Is my computer too slow to benefit from DSL?

Aug 16, 2005 5:23AM PDT

I would like to improve my internet browsing speed. I can get DSL for a little more than what I'm paying for dial-up, but I want to make sure the bottleneck is the internet connection and not my computer processor. Any suggestions?

I have an Intel 800MHzlaptop with , 256 MB running Windows XP, and an Athlon 2GHz desktop with 736 MB. Both are running Windows XP.

Both computers seemed to do fine with internet speed until I had to add anti-spyware stuff on top of the anti-virus & firewall, and now they are often slow as mud.

How fast does a computer have to be to really benefit from DSL? I don't want to buy DSL & find out what I really needed was a new computer.

Discussion is locked

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What did you add?
Aug 16, 2005 5:35AM PDT

There are some scams out there that claim to be antispyware but are, in fact, spyware.

Your machines will benefit, but then again you could have installed spyware...

Bob

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(NT) (NT) I added Spy Doctor (runs all the time) & AdAware
Aug 17, 2005 10:54AM PDT
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Just for the record...DSL worked out fine. Thanks 4 advice!
Sep 2, 2005 2:24AM PDT

Just for the record, I added DSL to the computers mentioned above and the speed is GREAT. I don't do gaming or other bandwidth intensive internet stuff, and the speed is more than sufficient for my needs. I get a lot more done in a lot less time with DSL. Thanks for all the help.

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Win98se, 600MHz and DSL
Aug 16, 2005 6:00AM PDT

I get 3000/512 no problem.

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RE
Aug 16, 2005 12:42PM PDT

My wife's 700Mhz Celeron w/ 512 RAM and XP Pro gets around 2400/4XX wireless from my HP. I get a tad better but I am wired directly to the modem. Check out what Bob told you.

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Also depends on what you are
Aug 17, 2005 5:42AM PDT

going to do with it. I have an old 380D thinkpad with
150mb Pentium , 80MB ram, and 2.1G HDD. I have it set up
with 98se, Open office, Firebird, Thunderbird, Sygate firewall, AVG, Adaware and Spybot. Does fine to browse, check email, and do office related projects. chuck

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Computer is fast enough
Aug 17, 2005 7:52AM PDT

I am having almost the same configuration as you have now, and using Rogers broadband now. They run very good, the bottleneck has never been computer themself for me, always internet bandwith!
It depends on how you maintain your computers, just like an old gun!

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Computer IS fast enough
Aug 19, 2005 6:58AM PDT

Yes, it's fast enough! I had an old 1995 Micron plugging along at 133 MHz connected to high speed wireless Internet. It pulled web pages down as fast as any other newer computer I've seen. The trick is to keep your OS & IE updated and use the correct RWIN value, i.e., get your computer's Internet "pipe" as large as possible. Go to dslreports.com and use their tweak tests for optimizing your system for high speed Internet.

EW

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RE: Better advice
Aug 17, 2005 11:33PM PDT

DSL is fast for people who need the speed....both your PC's could benefit and use the extra Internet bandwith, BUT do you need it? Ask these 2 simple questions first.

1. DSL is not the easiest of the broadband Internet connections to install, cable is easier, so how is your PC knowledge on network connections?

2. What do you use your PC for? Mostly the Internet? If this question's answer is YES than you should get DSL. You'll enjoy the Internet much more. Lots of Internet Browsing, Downloads, Music, Video, and Games are much better on a DSL or cable Internet connection. Dial up stinks for this stuff.....This is what I tell my customers who buy my custom made PCs from me.

But first turn off some of these software programs (temporaily)use the Inernet, then back on and do the same thing e.g. Firewall, anti-virus, and anti-sptware and see what happens....CNET has a bandwith meter to measure your Internet Speed use it!

Yes, your PC's are older and slower than newer models, but faster isn't always better. I have a 500MHz AMD K6 CPU with 512 megs of RAM; it runs fine with Windows XP. I also own a Athlon XP CPU with a gig of memory, it can be as slow as my 500 AMD if I let junk run in the System Tray (near the clock).Oh by the buy just be careful about spyware programs.. They can cause more trouble than they solve

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Is my computer too slow?
Aug 18, 2005 9:08PM PDT

You mentioned anti-virus etc, which anti-virus software are you running? This seems to be one of the biggest system slow down problems around. If you are using Nortons then that is your problem, uninstall it and run an alternative and see what the result is, if it is for personal use then try AVG Free Editio www.grisoft.com and you will get better protection than the commercial versions.

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DSL Speed
Aug 18, 2005 11:50PM PDT

The short answer is maybe, for you did not tell the speed of the DSL lione. I just ran a speed test on my DSL line (3 mbits/second) using a very old Dell XPS D300 (Windows XP Pro, Pentium II 300 Mhz, 384 MBYtes ram). No problems. Speed slightly over the advertised speed. I am runing both NAV Corporate A/V version nine, and Microsoft Antispyware Beta in the background, with no noticeable impact. I am not sure if the PC will be able to keep up when I upgrade to a 15 or 30 mbits/secnd DSL line.

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DSL speed test
Aug 19, 2005 8:17AM PDT

what do I need to test DSL speed?

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Testing DSL "speed"
Aug 19, 2005 8:53AM PDT

Go to PC Pit Stop----FREE!! This will test DSL speed, modem, hard drive, complete system actually---all FREE!!

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Nah, get DSL
Aug 19, 2005 3:42AM PDT

First things first, at least for me, I've found you shouldn't use anything anti-spyware-ish except Spybot, Ad-Aware, and Spywareblaster, with my anti-virus pick being AVG, simply because it's free.

In terms of whether to get DSL, I'd get it. Your machine may be slightly slower than a faster one would be, but I'm guessing it will be fine. I know of a computer worse than yours (64 MB RAM), and it takes almost full advantage of DSL, but is directly connected to the router.

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DSL compatability to whatever
Aug 19, 2005 8:55AM PDT

My Compaq, Win ME is a mere 800Mhz, 64 M Ram and the DSL is GREAT!

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DSL verses Dialup
Aug 19, 2005 3:43AM PDT

I see the discussion has begun.

My first point is : When I left dialup for DSL back in 1998 (Yes 1998, MPower 8Mbps ADSL), the computer systems that you see out there now didn't exist and my personal best system was a P166-MMX with 64M RAM, and my 486 DX-2 20M running Win95 on the Internet well - it still lives.

DSL will win, and any computer that is capable of receiving and processing more data than it is throttled to can benefit from higher.

Modem, max 57600 bps, do some copmpression and maybe double sustained throughput. DSL and various versions will either install or use an existing 10,000,000bps (10Mbps)ethernet card, or 100 Mbps, (100 million bps).

So is there an Internet for us out there that will provide the data that quickly? Not really. The top speed I have been on was 8Mbps, Comcast now boasts 6Mbps and Earthlink at 3Mbps. Your network card will be much faster than your Internet.

So ... systems MUCH slower than the one you described have utilized whatever DSL could throw at them. And just like any other computing environment, if you over task your multi-tsking capabilities, it will slow your ability to process your internet once the files have arrived ... this is a processing problem and not a dialup or DSL problem - so don't try to over task with lots of other software running.

To help accomplish this, Invest in a router! Which will handle the firewall between your systems (LAN) and the Internet (WAN) leaving your computer free of that software burden.

A proper install is DSL goes to their modem, to your router, to your PCs - you are now behind a firewall.

The job of a properly installed router is to only allow information that was requested from your side (LAN) to pass through from the Internet side (WAN).


(read up on routers)

deium

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DSL on old PCs
Aug 19, 2005 4:49AM PDT

I've used a Pentium 1 133 with 64 Megs memory on 2Meg ADSL and it worked fine. Big improvement when I upped the memory to 128Megs. The less things you have running in the background the better (icons bottom right toolbar).
Spybot Search and Destroy plus Ad-Aware plus A-Squared with ZoneAlarm firewall and Winpatrol to see what's running. All FREE, SAFE and essential.
Mike

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check for spyware/adware/viruses
Aug 19, 2005 10:07AM PDT

I use a P4 3GHz PC with 512MB of DDR400 RAM. winXP.

Many months ago, i accumulated soo much spyware/adware that my PC crawled. It took 10 minutes to boot up winXP instead of just 45 sec, 2 minutes to load up Word instead of 3 sec, and webpages took anywhere from 2x to 5x as longer to load up and sometimes even fail. I got lazy about anti-spyware/adware and all that junk added up and bogged my system down.

My PC is 4x faster (roughly speaking) than yours and internet connection was at sham speeds with all that crap on there. I've reinstalled winXP and my connection is as speedy as it's supposed to be. I actually use cable modem but the point remains true.

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Broadband on a older computer
Aug 19, 2005 10:21AM PDT

I hve succesfully hooked up several freinds and relatives, to a brodband connection even though they had older computers. I'm talking 200-233mz. I myself started on cable with a 400mz. Takes a little longer to render the pages, streaming vidio is somtimes not the best. But it always beat there old dial-up.

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Just a Suggestation
Aug 19, 2005 3:56PM PDT

Hi..

I think the problem is with you Anti-virus and Spy ware which are lodaded. every time you connect to internet it scan the data which are downloaded.. this first reduce the speed of upload and download speed of Internet... secondly you will have to see the speed that is been terminated to your node... as I understand that DSL is a shared bandwidth... so check with your speed. Rest will tell you is I come across anything... I dont see that you need to change your Laptop.....

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This might Help you...
Aug 19, 2005 7:59PM PDT

I am not a Tech Guy, but just trying to help u in some way. In your case u should try making one of your PC in to a server where you can terminate a DSL connection, and for other two pc you take them in LAN, for which a switch or a HUB would do?this way you will be able to share the DSL connection in all three pc without a problem? as far as fire wall system are concern? you will have to check it with your local vendors what hardware are available. Or any software is available which can solve your problem. Good bandwidth management software are also available which can help you to restrict un wanted site and POP UP windows which actually consume more bandwidth.

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To slow for dsl .?
Aug 20, 2005 1:06AM PDT

you may want to tryand uninstall spy doctor .i tryed that program and it made my machine slow and sluggish.
then i went and bought a copy of system mechanic #5 and it works very well with my machine there is a spy ware utility with the program it works well and the registery fixer .
all the utilities that come with it work well and i have had no problems that i can speek of .

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Too slow -
Aug 20, 2005 7:47AM PDT

I think you've got it backwards. Maybe you should be asking, Is your computer too slow for dial-up. You really don't need too much of a computer just to surf the internet. You only need those big power boxes for digital photo & video editing/recording, gaming, etc. I can't get DSL where I am (rural area), but finally got cable last year and for internet purposes, if I had to chose between P4 with dial-up or 486 with cable, I'd take the cable!

The main purpose of a router is if you have more than one computer connected (with or without internet). I have my kids' computers, my main computer, a shared network printer, a vonage internet phone adapter, and occasionally my laptop and/or someone else's computer I'm fixing all networked. They can all access internet plus I can easily move files between the computers and control the kids' computers from my comfy seat on yhe couch. Not all routers claim to have a built-in firewall, but I think most newer ones do, which is a plus for broadband internet even if you only have the one computer to connect. I wouln't dream of having my computers connected to internet by broadband with firewall protection & I've had problems with the software firewalls - too easy to cripple them.

A lot of IE worshippers will want to argue, but I find firefox to be a lot faster than IE (can add extensions to prevent a lot of adds from loading plus prevent popups) much cleaner looking.

The cheapest way to improve computer performance is to reformat & reload (gets rid of a lot of hidden junk) then install your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs before you get any junk back on it. Ad-aware is the best I've used (and I've tried many different ones). Free is nice, but the paid version is not expensive and the "ad-watch" feature is well worth the price. I highly recommend trying out free versions before spending (wasting) hard earned money on something that doesn't do what you expect. For anti-virus - anything but Norton (that's a whole other discussion). I use McAfee, but mainly because that's what we have at work.

First $$ you should spend is on increasing ram. A lot of "out-of-the box" systems short change you on the ram. You won't see a lot of impovement on a system that has enough ram, but you'll definitely notice a difference if you increase ram in a box that didn't have enough ram!

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Yes! Big Improvements!
Aug 21, 2005 2:49PM PDT

You aren't going to get the fastest speeds on the laptop as its rather limited in RAM for a Windows XP box. However your athlon system should be flying when you are browsing the web. DSL should be a must as its come down a great deal in price.