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Question

PC speed

Feb 18, 2012 2:10AM PST

HP Pavilion 061 MS XP Home Edition Service Pack: 2.0 Memory (RAM) Capacity: 512 MB Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz Speed: 2800 MHz Local Disk Total Capacity: 149.03 GB Internet Explorer 8

I tested the speed on my PC and it is:

Download 1.31
Upload 0.33

Is that acceptable?

I am not a gamer. Just ordinary usage.

Thank you

Discussion is locked

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Answer
What speed internet connection do you have
Feb 18, 2012 2:12AM PST

and with which ISP?

1.31 what, Kbs or Mbs

0.33 Kbs or Mbs?

Mark

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PC speed
Feb 18, 2012 4:18AM PST

I have lower level internet connection.

softcom.net

Mbs

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That seems to be the answer then.
Feb 18, 2012 7:24PM PST

With a 'lower level' internet connection ir would appear the "speed" of your connection is slow, and if so download and upload speeds will reflect that.

Of course, 'lower level' and 'slow' are relative terms and could mean anything. For example my ISP is VirginMedia and I have signed up to their 50Mbps service. I think that is fast and suitable for my needs, but if anyone wanted a 100Mbps connection they might think that was slow.

I did check softcom.net's web site and I see here; http://www.softcom.net/dialup.php that they offer DSL, dial-up as well as broadband connections.

I see you have replied below that you are on express DSL with them at 384kbs appears to translate to around 48KBs, which is less than maximum attainable on a 56Kbs dial-up modem. So I would expect download and upload speeds to be slow. I'm not convinced my calculation is right though as that does seem very slow.

Mark

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Answer
Hi Golden1 :)!
Feb 18, 2012 6:44AM PST

Hi Golden1,

My name is Zack Happy and I'm Cisco Certified I think I can help you make your computer faster. To me it seems like your computer is already in good condition, but if you want to make it faster you have a few options that you can consider.

Here are your options:
1. You can buy more Ram. The more ram you got the better. Happy I would say go for 2 GB of Ram. ( If you can afford it, Ram could be costly or not depending on what compatibility your motherboard will support )
2. Do a disk defrag and disk cleanup. This option is free as these two useful and power tools come with your Operating System anyway.
3. Fresh Install of Windows. This could be a good option as it will get rid of the resources that your ram shouldn't really hold to process.

If you are testing your internet connection I have a few options you can try:
1. Test your internet connection first. Go to Speedtest.net ( That is the site I use to test my internet speed for my personal computers )
2. If your not satisfied with your internet connection you can always find a better deal of internet that is available in your area. I'm with ATT, but I would suggest Verizon's Fios as it is alot faster. Because there cables are fiber optic( glass ) which is better than ATT's internet. ( personal preferrence )

I hope this has helped you, if your satisfied with your internet, I believe Ram would fix your problem. Since you got 512 MGB I think it would be best to go ahead and get at least 2 GB Happy

Your Friend,
Zack

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PC speed
Feb 18, 2012 8:31AM PST

Thanks Zack

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But something is unclear in your original post
Feb 18, 2012 9:23AM PST

Are you asking about your Internet connection speed or your PC's performance. The upload/download numbers refer to internet speed. Your PC's hardware appears to be a bit dated but even that equipment will easily handle much faster internet speed than you seem to have. You did mention it's a lower speed connection so I'm thinking something like what was called "DSL lite" or an equivalent cable offering. These are the usually the one companies offer at rock bottom prices like 15 bucks a month and are for people who mostly do email, on line shopping, etc. It's not adequate for much in the way of streaming video or gaming. In any event, your numbers don't look that bad for basic internet use but you're not going to like it for youtube, hulu and such. As for your PC, if it's too sluggish for you, the best option is to get something newer. But I would agree that 512 megs of RAM is a bit marginal. Windows XP does reasonably well with 1 GB. Beyond 1 gig, further improvement is just about unnoticeable for most purposes. Some will suggest a better graphics card instead of RAM at some point. If yours is AGP, you'll find these hard to come by now. Hope that helps.

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PC speed
Feb 18, 2012 11:47AM PST

What generated my question was this: I belong to a forum and I am occasionally getting this report. "Connect to upstream server timeout". I disconnect and try again and get right in. It also happens on and off when I am posting. Someone advised it might be the speed of my PC. This is the only site I am having the problem with. BTW, I have no problem with youtube and videos. The other stuff I am not interested in.

My DSL - Express 384kbps-1.5mbps Download 128kbps-384kbps Upload

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So it's limited to Cnet?
Feb 18, 2012 8:13PM PST

I can tell you that, unfortunately, that happens to me occasionally here too. My up/down speeds are about 9500 kbs and 950 kbs respectively. The much lower upload speed is fairly common for home use services. What I am told is that ISPs want to discourage home users to run web servers with those plans but who knows. When you try to connect to some site, you're using your slower upload speed first so all of this makes sense. You might be able to do some things at browser level but you didn't mention what you used. I would recommend that you didn't use multiple firewalls and pest control software as these will interfere. You also don't want browser helpers using up bandwidth. Maybe you could tell more about your browser and internet protection services and how they are configured.

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Those time outs ...
Feb 19, 2012 5:27AM PST

would be related to your Internet connection. If you upgraded to their next higher plan (Pro - 1.5kbps-3.0mbps Download 384kbps-512kbps Upload) you would most likely see fewer time out messages but if this affects only the one forum is it worth it?

For DSL those plans seem a bit expensive. Is Cable Internet available and have you checked their pricing on what they offer if it is?

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PC speed
Feb 19, 2012 9:34AM PST

It's only one site, so at this point I won't upgrade.

Thanks

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One more thought
Feb 20, 2012 1:01AM PST

You mentioned Internet Explorer 8 in your OP. Have you considered another browser such as Firefox? If not, you might try it and install the "adblock plus". It's often the loading of all those ads that eat up bandwidth...especially the animated ones. Another possibility might be to try some custom "hosts" file to eliminate some unwanted traffic. I've not found these to be all that friendly to use and maintain but they do work in IE. I believe there are ad blocking programs for IE but I've not bothered to try them as I rarely us that browser.

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PC speed
Feb 20, 2012 3:08AM PST

I stick with IE, I have never had a problem with it.

Thanks for the additional info.