slow downloads

[librawoman35]

i have win xp.i don't know what's going on with my pc as of now, but my downloads are very slow, for me having a cable modem. even trying to download a demo, takes hours, when it never did before. could i have too many processes running? i dont know. can anyone tell me what they think is going on? also, if there are too many running, what is must too keep running?

[aqlo]

Hi libra, your question isn't really specific enough for anyone to answer. My guess is that you have said yes to say Gator and about a dozen other things and you need a serious cleanup. No offense though, I could be wrong, maybe smarter people than me will speak up soon.

In the meantime here is a tool that will scan your pc for you and help remove a certain amount of unwanted crap.
Ad-Aware (http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10045910.html?legacy=cnet)

[origin]

i'm guessing that it is either a physical connection problem between you and your ISP (cable company in this case) or that you're critical network settings within windows are not set appropriatly to what is needed for optimal connection speeds. But the whole thing about too many processes running that wouldnt really matter in this situation active processes could affect it but highly unlikely to occour...in anycase Ctrl+Alt+Del and go to the processes tab and look at the active processes at that time each is listed with the size of program running how much memory its using and how much cpu % its using to keep the program running I would say anywhere from 10-30% cpu usage while idling with simple programs running in the backround everything above 50% is higher end software that needs more cpu power to operate...hopes it helps have any other question after this just ask ;)

l8

[DemonusAE]

XP built in firewalll tends to slow down download speeds also. Although it is not as dramatic as you are describing. I would suggest disabling it, but it is your call wheter you install a decent firewall or not.

[isus]

cable can go to 1.5mbps (for the majority of people who will use it). what kind of major slowdown are we talking about here?

don't forget that if you buy 1.5mbps cable, you hafta divide 1500 by 8. this puts it into kilobytes per second, which is what many programs report as download speed.

another thing could be that there are just a lot of people sharing the connection you're on. i wouldn't know how to tell you to check, other than to go online late at nite (2am) and see if it's any better. if it is, call the cable company and bitch.

[aqlo]

Oh, another thing that slows me way down if I don't pay attention is the excess of stuff in my cache. To fix this pull down the tools menu in your explorer, and on the first tab hit the button that says "delete files". If you do have a significant excess this may take a long time to run, don't assume it is frozen or whatever.

[librawoman35]

i was trying to download a game demo, it will download a bit, (slowly mind you), then i go and check it again, and the download is at a stand still. not moving at all.

[Krypt0]

i was trying to download a game demo, it will download a bit, (slowly mind you), then i go and check it again, and the download is at a stand still. not moving at all.

ok... well first off, try this (if you haven't already)

1) reboot the computer
2) reboot your cable modem (and router/switch/hub also)
3) download, install, and run Ad-Aware (http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10045910.html?legacy=cnet)
4) make sure no other programs are running (I.E. Kazaa, WinMX, mIRC, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, etc)
5) Also, if other people use the same internet connection that you do, have them do steps 1-4 as well, and try again.

Those are the basic steps to troubleshooting slow downloads. If things still don't work correctly, it could be the cable company, the server you are downloading the game demo from, or anything (any computers) in-between.

[eBwoy]

librawoman35 . . this problem of yours COULD well be a pretty NON-malicious
virus (so don't be too alarmed honey) which resides in the background
processes of your operating system known as services.

I say non-malicious, cos it won't mess with files such as deleting them or
spoiling them etc, but it simply stiffles your bandwidth by sending out
packets of information (about nothing in particular to nowhere in particular).

If you've got an upload light on your modem, see whether it's indicating
a suspiciously dodgy upload stream.

I say this because I dealt with a virus recently myself exhibiting exactly
the symptoms you're talking about and nobbled it by carefully shutting down
certain services (on Windows 2000 Pro) until suprise, suprise - it went away.

Can't remember the exact service now, but it was one related to web processing.

Then basically ran a pretty cool and free virus checker (no-frills) called
AntiVir Personal Edition, which sure enough sorted the little f.u.c.k.a

So give the following a shot:

http://www.free-av.com

Whenever a weirdness creeps into your system, or something just don't feel
right - run a virus check - just my two pennies worth .. .