Computers - Why is my internet performance so poor?

In an age where the use of the internet has become an integral part of daily life it is not surprising that people are demanding a much higher computer performance to permit them to spend less time on the more routine online tasks. Although many Internet Service Providers advertise their ability to provide a fast connection,, this does not always prove to be the case.

You may be one of the unfortunate internet users who finds that the computer is sluggish even when performing some of the lightest of internet tasks. If that is the case, it is important to consider what the possible cause or causes of this poor performance may be. These causes can either be provider/connection based or related to your computer itself There are several possible reasons, based on the computer itself, for a computer to be performing slowly on the internet.

The first, and most often ignored of these factors is that the computer itself is not capable of performing as efficiently as others. The computer may be lacking in memory or may have an under-performing processor, its hard drive may be clogged up with many unnecessary files and folders or its hard drive may be catastrophically fragmented. If your computer is performing tasks slowly when you are not using the internet it is more than likely that one or more of the above problems is causing, or at the very least, contributing to the poor performance of your system. Clearly, if the problem is with memory or hard disk space, upgrades can easily be obtained and fitted. Upgrading the processor can be more costly and not as straightforward and, due to the relatively low cost of reasonably performing computers nowadays, you may feel that the acquisition of a new model altogether would be more cost effective. If your problem is simply an overloading of unnecessary files or a fragmented hard drive, then free up some space and tidy up the hard drive by using the system tools provided by windows or some of the freeware that is available for download online.

An additional reason for your computer failing to perform efficiently is the existence off a virus. Needless to say, prevention is always better than cure and the existence of an effective anti-virus software programme can prevent you contracting a virus in the first place. However, if you do end up with a virus on your system it can have a dramatic effect on its performance, particularly when you are using the internet. It is essential, therefore, to get rid of the virus by using the software available. You might find that this has a dramatic effect on your computer’s speed.

Not all speed problems are associated with your computer, however. Obviously, if you are still using a DSL connection you will find it to be slower than a broadband connection. But some broadband connections seem to run faster than others, even though they advertise speeds download speeds of 10G, 15G or even 20G. The key words that are employed in these claimed speeds are “up to”. In other words, the speed that you experience is anything from 1 megabyte to the 20 gigabytes advertised,

The main reason for some broadband connections being lower than others is the quality and type of connection. Some older telephone lines will be considerably slower unless they have a booster. Of equal importance is the distance that you live from the telephone exchange that serves your property. Finally, research has shown that greater speeds are experienced in built up, urban areas than ion more remote, rural settings. It is hoped that with the roll out of more technology, particularly for the rural areas, broadband speeds will improve.

Until then, do all that you can to maximise the performance of your computers and remember, even a slowish broadband speed is likely to be considerably better than the non-broadband alternative.

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