Hey, I'm having problems with my other computer. The internet only seems to work for about 5 minutes on all internet browsers, and a few other smaller programs. Any ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

My first reaction is, "Call your ISP."

Then I have to wonder more about the symptoms in detail.

Naw, don't tell us that. We'll just get Chase, Cameron and Foreman to burglarize your house and find out. I kind of like that plot device on House, MD.

Sorry for joking about your stressful problem but do you get:

• A BSOD & a hex location?
• A cursor freeze?
• Screen goes black.
• The throbber (i-net progress indicator) just searches forever and never gets data.
• The computer acts slower and slower until it stops.
• The modem suddenly disconnects.
• Was the problem on a particular site or group of sites?
• Dialup or DSL or TV cable modem?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

OLDER COMPUTER SLOWS DOWN OR FREEZES:

1. STOP PROGRAMS RUNNING AUTOMATICALLY AT STARTUP

Possibly the computer is not powerful enough to cope with being forced to run a lot of programs at once. You won't be able to run modern software on an older, slower processor.

So possibly you have too many programs running automatically at startup. You can't run a lot of programs at the same time on an older, slower processor. Go to:

START > PROGRAMS > STARTUP

and delete the shortcuts there, to stop unnecessary programs from running automatically at startup. Only start programs you are actually using, and only when you actually need them.


2. REVERT TO A REGISTRY BACKUP

If the above hasn't solved the problem, boot to DOS (using a bootable floppy disk, e.g. from http://www.bootdisk.com) and type the following at the C:\ prompt -

SCANREG /RESTORE

Note the space before the forward slash in this command.

Follow the on-screen instructions, and try to restore the *oldest* backup of the registry (they're listed by date) as that's the one with the best chance of being from before the problem arose.

By default Windows keeps 5 backup copies of the Windows Registry, so that you can go back 5 days, to before the problem arose.

When an on-screen message tells you that the registry has been successfully restored, restart the computer normally.


3. REINSTALL YOUR INTERNET ISP SOFTWARE

Uninstall the software supplied by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and reboot. Then re-install it from the CD supplied by the ISP.

Also, check your ISP's website, and the e-mail they sent you when you signed up, for details of the settings you were supposed to enter when you initially set up the internet connection. On their website, look for a troubleshooting page, and for a Help forum. Read any FAQ pages carefully.

Suspect a faulty setting. It's unlikely to be a very serious fault, or you would never get on-line at all. Perhaps you've got an error in your proxy settings, which is slowing you down?

This is NOT a fault in Internet Explorer. It affects other browsers, so it is a system-wide fault. Perhaps even an error in the internet connection settings.


4. DO A VIRUS AND MALWARE CHECK

A slow computer can be slow because a virus or other malware program is running, using up all the system's resources and so slowing it down.

Update and run your anti-virus program. Also, download and run a good anti-malware program, such as Ad-Aware from www.Lavasoft.com and Spybot Search & Destroy from www.SpyBot.info


Ed




On Saturday, May 19, 2007 at 2:50 am, Trey wrote:
>Hey,
>
>I'm having problems with my other computer. The internet only seems to work for about
>5 minutes on all internet browsers, and a few other smaller programs. Any ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

• Search this forum
• Start a new thread on a different subject

• Report abuse of the forum