Computer/Bandwidth Issues

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Hi,
I have been having a problem with my system for a few weeks now and it's starting to get on my nerves!
Technically I have Comcase Cable as my provider, though everything is really SusCom which was bought by Comcast a few months ago. So it seems that all my issues and questions are unknown to the Comcast general CSR folks.
When I do speed tests I get crazy blazing speeds, IF IT WORKS. It seems that my computer "hangs up" all the time. Example, I will place an order for some great tool on Amazon and when I hit the order button, the program slightly advances then seems to take forever (or never) to complete on my computer screen. It does not time out. However, I will receive an email from Amazon confirming order, while the screen is still trying to pull the info up. Or I will attempt to download a program update and it will do the first 10 MB in seconds then stop. Sometimes it will restart other times it will not. Another example is if I am playing poker online, after a minute or two the connection will freeze and it takes forever to "re-connect". It seems like I am loosing bandwidth or something.
Anyone have any ideas?
Events that surround this matter :
1) SunRocket VOIP
2) Vonage VOIP
3) Son used my computer for Torrent downloads and likely screwed up some ports.
4) Suscom moving to ComCast.

I think this issue affects only my computer. I run XP and the latest version of IE and Outlook. I have completely gotten rid of VOIP lines from my line in an attempt to recover from this issue. I have removed the Torrent program he installed, after all his computer is faster than mine now! LOL!
Thanks folks!

[TheRic]

Have you checked your computer for spyware? I have seen these type of issues before being caused by spyware. Employee here had his computer reboot several times a day. I ran some spyware checking programs, everything is fine now.

[Rand]

Sounds like spyware or a virus to me.

Here is a good free anti-spyware program
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/...e_personal.php

Here is a good free anti-virus program
http://free.grisoft.com

I was having similar problems running McAfee antivirus and personal firewall. I replaced them with the free grisoft program and my machine is much better now.

Good Luck!
Rand

[mkel2000]

I would definately agree with the spyware/virus ideas. While free software is great, I wouldn't trust it in the spyware/virus arena. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. That said, the best product on the market that I am aware of is Trend Micro's PcCillin product:

http://www.trendmicro.com/en/product...e/overview.htm

While it may seem a little expensive at about $47 per copy, it incorporates virus scanning, spyware and adware scanning, phishing protection, firewall protection and a number of other features. The one thing that puts it far above Symantec or McAfee is their update schedule. Trend Micro puts out as many updates as necessary, as often as necessary. In the past, I have seen several updates in one day because of virus outbreaks. You can't expect that from Symantec or McAfee and you surely can't expect that from a free product.

One other trouble shooting idea for your situation is to hook up a computer to your connection that you don't normally use at home and see how it performs. If that computer performs as expected, then you definately have issues with yours that are most likely related to software.

Good luck,

Mark

[zootroy]

I also use grisoft (AVG Free Version) and Kerio firewall (free).
I had loads of problems running norton on my system. Removed it and installed the free stuff w/out a problem. I run spybot for spyware.

[cwsmith]

It may also be your storage area. When was the last time you purged your IE internet files? I've had very similar problems and have found the IE Internet Folder so jammed it simply couldn't take anymore. It would hang me, hold, etc. just as you describe. For whatever reason, the temp files wouldn't purge themselves and thus cause me problems.

Go to Internet Options, Temporary Files, Settings, Files and check the content. Don't delete the "cookies" (different folder), and don't do a general delete as I've learned to be selective in the files I purge, because your automatic passwords for area like this forum will be included in those files.

I hope this helps,

CWS

[LCHIEN]

I'm going to go a different tack.
Maybe you have interference.
1) other programs interfering using lots of packets. If you have XP, go to Task manager, click the networking tab and see if there's a lot of network traffic. You may have a spybot or some application sucking down your network
2) Do you have/use WiFi? If you do, do you have bluetooth and or cell phones and or wireless phones? or other wireless gear? How about your neighbors? In many of these instances, they share the same radio frequencies and can hang up the system for several seconds with contention depending on who's using what.

[Chris_B]

While local problems on your PC are probably a more likely culprit, you may have intermittent network (Comcast) issues. A great tool to diagnose this is PingPlotter.

Here is a typical output from the standard version:



The left column lists all of the IP addresses from your computer to your destination, as well as the latency (milliseconds to reach that address) to each IP address. The bottom plot is how the total latency varies over time. They have a no-cost "Freeware" version at the above link, which does not have the bottom plot, but can help diagnose obvious problems.

With some persistence, I was able to use outputs from this program to get Comcast to fix their network issues in our area. This was the best $25 I've ever spent. Without this program, I would still be arguing with tech support. In our case, the network traffic was cyclically bad (would come and go), so only the time plots revealed the issue.

BTW, I think the best low-cost spyware program is probably HitMan Pro. This shareware program semi-automatically downloads, updates and runs up to 6 separate spyware programs. You can run some or all of the included programs, and 4 of the 6 are free (Trend, Lavasoft, Spybot & Ewido), and HitMan Pro launches them all from one screen. If you use Spybot, be sure to go into "Advanced" mode and check out the "System Startup" tool. This is an easy way to disable most of the nefarious "helper" programs that make your system run like a slug.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[TheRic]

I first wasn't going to mention any anti-spyware programs, didn't want to start a flame war or anything. But since other people already mentioned them, I'll add my opinion. I have worked on many computers getting rid of spyware stuff, at work and on the side. My two favorite ones, free, and normally ranked at or near the top in ratings is "SpyBot Search and Destroy" and "Adaware". SpyBot has a function to help "immunize" your computer. It actually stops them from loading, so it cuts down on the frequency of having to run these type of programs.

BIG TIP - Once you get the latest definitions of your antivirus program, anti spyware program. Run them in safe mode, several times!! Some of those are a real PITA, running in safe mode will help get rid of them.

Cleaning up your Internet temp files, and your computer temp files will also help speed thing up. Do a search for files with the file type "tmp", or files that begin with "~" not the quotes. 99.99% (there is always that exception) of those files can be gotten rid of with no trouble at all. Some may be in use by the operating system, so you won't be able to delete them.

[gabedad]

In addition to spyware programs:

download a program call hijack this. Run it and look at what is being loaded at startup. Much of the spyware that infest computers is loaded at startup and may not be detected by other spyware detection programs