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Troubleshoot a Slow Internet Connection
Last Updated: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 > Related Articles
Summary
This article provides information on troubleshooting a slow Internet connection using PC Health Check.
Solution
Symptoms
You can get on line, but your connection and/or download speed is slow. Web pages open slowly, and you experience a slow transfer rate when downloading a file.
Causes
PC clutter: It's a fact that newer PCs perform better than older ones. A decrease in performance is often caused by program clutter. If there are multiple programs running when the computer starts up, such as music software, media player updates, each of these programs use resources that could put a drain on performance. Disabling auto-start or uninstalling these programs can have a big impact.
Spyware: Spyware secretly uses your computer resources and your Internet connection to send and receive data. Cox offers several security solutions, including the free Cox Security Suite Plus Powered by McAfee to detect and help remove spyware from a Windows PC.
Viruses and Trojans: Viruses and Trojans can have a serious impact on PC and Internet connection performance. Both will try to use a high-speed connection to take over your computer via email or network attacks. Anti-virus and firewall programs help detect and prevent these threats. Cox allows a customer to choose from two offerings to protect the PC. Cox Security Suite offers anti-virus and firewall protection for the Windows PC.
Peer-to-Peer file sharing: Most of these programs continue to operate in the background after downloads are complete, clogging the Internet connection. In addition to sharing speed, many of these programs often install spyware.
Solutions
Cox recommends following the checklist below to regularly check your PC health, including:
- Update virus and spyware (allow auto-update if possible)
- Uninstall programs you don't regularly use
- Scan for spyware and viruses
- Turn off any background programs that do not need to run all of the time
- Delete cookies and temporary Internet files.
For help with the above suggestions, see:
If none of these solutions helped, visit your computer manufacturer and/or Internet browser provider at these links:
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