Why are my downloads so slow?

First, I'll give you a quick synopsis. My Question follows at the bottom----

The computer was purchased in 1998. For the last several months, the computer has been extremely slow with loading pages I go to. It takes forever to open anything. I usually just go to pages like cnn.com or various newspapers in the country or google from time to time. I seldom download anything. The only thing I ever SEND is email. I have been trying to figure out why it is so slow. I also have noticed that when I want to print an article, it really takes 2 or 3 minutes to connect and search and print. I defrag twice a week and use the Norton utilities all the time. I think I have just stumbled onto another clue and here is my question to you. When I look at my connection (Status)to the internet, it is showing 7 times more bytes being SENT from my computer than are received. For instance, I noticed last night that 4,978,000 bytes had been received and 29,800,000 bytes had been send. About 2 hours later, using it on and off just to check email it showed 5,900,000 received and 35,135,000 bytes had been SENT. This seems to be extremely wrong to me. I downloaded AdAware and searched for spy programs. It found 16 suspects which I deleted. Made no difference with the bytes being sent. I have also deleted all the temp files and all the cookies from the file.

Can you tell me why my computer is SENDING all this info, and where exactly is it sending it??????????? Do you think I am being spied on big time?????? Is there some other thing that could be going on? In other words, maybe I'm not being spied on but I have something set in the computer that constantly is sending something somewhere?? I assume the reason it is slow is because since it is sending out all this information it is constantly too busy to load stuff in a reasonable time. CAN YOU ENLIGHTEN ME??????? HELP!!!!!

Thank you so much...Susan Jennings [email protected]

This question was answered on December 7, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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This could be a number of things.

First, I would update my Norton Virus Profiles.

Next, go through your machine and backup all the data you have collected over time Defragment your hard drive.

Next, delete all your temporary internet files and Cookies See if this helps.

Next, visit Sophos.com, or one of the other antivirus sites Macaffee also comes to mind Try one or two of the online virus scans Disable Norton, first There are so many viruses flying around these days, even the ones which are detected and "fixed" may still be active.

Sounds like your PC has been around a while Recommendations I have include reloading all your software every two to three years The restore disks you got with your HP machine should help simplify the process Then, visit Microsoft.com and install the latest comprehensive service pack It's easier than chasing down all the symptoms which come with a PC once it's been slogging around the net a while Once completed, your PC will run like a pup again.

If AdAware found 16 suspects, other than cookies, I suspect you may still be buying into a lot of adware This is a very common situation If the right hand side of your task bar has more than about three icons next to the clock, it's a red flag

Suggest doing a Google search, providing the name of anything you remotely consider offloading from the net in the way of helper or utility programs Add the word "spyware" next to your search criteria

If your internet use is really that sparse, rather than most of the above, you may just have a noisy phone line But if that's the case, you're also getting dropped from your IP connection a lot.

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Posted by Robert of Mesa Community College on December 7, 2002

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