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web pages load slow

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What would cause web pages that previously loaded very quickly to load slowly or not at all. I use optimum online cable service, winxp. My computer has plenty of memory.

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Clarifications

In reply to web pages load slow

Clarifications

Lots of things…

In reply to web pages load slow

… primarily spyware, malware, adware, plug-ins, & tool bar add-ons.

I’m assuming you are using Internet Explorer. Keep in mind that there are alternatives available that will run faster, such as Firefox.

Try this first:
With Internet Explorer open, click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options. There, click on the Advanced tab and then the Restore Defaults button. Lastly, click Apply and OK. Close & Reopen IE and test.

If you are using Internet Explorer, I would first check what add-ons are running and disable any that look suspicious. In Internet Explorer 6, go to Tools and select ‘Manage Add-Ons’. Then scroll through the list of enabled Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) and disable the ones you don’t want. In IE7, go to Tools and Then Manage Add-Ons and then Enable or Disable Add-ons to do the same.Here you can update their ActiveX components from there as well.

While in IE, empty the Internet Cache.**

Typically, the more toolbars you have running, the slower IE will open. Go to View and then Toolbars to un-check the ones you don’t want or need.

If the issue continues, download and install the latest version of Sun Java Runtime:
http://tinyurl.com/39h5f9.

If the issue still continues, your situation may be due to Spyware, Adware or Malware.
Here are excellent tools for removing spyware, malware and adware:

Ad-Aware:
http://tinyurl.com/5kgsl

Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://tinyurl.com/78ubw

CWShredder:
http://tinyurl.com/38wazl

X-Cleaner Micro:
http://tinyurl.com/357tuu

When you finally get everything cleaned up and running smooth, here are great tools to help you avoid getting that garbage again:

SpywareBlaster:
http://tinyurl.com/g1d9

SpywareGuard:
http://tinyurl.com/3yj37

and to quickly clean out the places where their installers usually hide before you shut down or reboot – ATF-Cleaner:
http://tinyurl.com/2ls4k4

[b]Good Luck![/b]

* * To empty the Internet Cache – if you are using IE7, open to a browser window, click on Tools, select Internet Options, in the Browsing History section click on Delete and then in the next menu click on Temporary Internet Files ‘Delete Files.’
If you are using IE6, click on Tools, select Internet Options and then under Temporary Internet Files click on the Delete Files button.

.

It is greatly appreciated if you tag all useful responses as ‘Helpful’ by opening those posts and clicking the ‘Mark Helpful’ button at the bottom. That way, people with a similar situation in the future will be able to quickly see what ultimately helped. Thanks.

Thanks for your thorough response

In reply to Lots of things…

I actually use Firefox 2.0 most of the time but occasionally IE 6. The problem started just last week and affects both browsers. I routinely run Spyware Blaster, Spybot Search and Destroy and AdAware so I ran them along with Ccleaner but still experience the problem on various sites but not all that I visit.
Any other ideas?

re: Slow to load

In reply to Thanks for your thorough response

Your ISP could be experiencing difficulties. Have you restarted the internet connection device (modem, router, etc…).

Have you run a TRACERT to the web site you’re trying to load? That will show where possible bottlenecks are occurring between you and them.

You can even try calling your ISP and tell them you’re experiencing a slow down. They may know of conditions somewhere that would be affecting you.

And, finally, the web sites you are connecting to could be slow. Especially if you are fine going to one site and another is real slow. Maybe they’re experiencing a DOS attack or just plain server overload.

In other words, there could be TONS of things causing pages from some web sites to load slowly and others being fine.

The only thing you can do is make sure that what is under your control is working properly. Anything that happens between your property line and the server hosting the pages you’re trying to view is out of your control.

thanks but need more help

In reply to re: Slow to load

I don’t know how to run a TRACERT to the web site I’m trying to load but I ran a generic one and got these results: traceroute to 69.123.77.185 (69.123.77.185), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 gw-enst-itix2-1g.enst.fr (137.194.4.252) 301.542 ms 13.852 ms 1.362 ms
2 gw-enst-itix2-1g.enst.fr (137.194.4.252) 290.866 ms 357.370 ms 0.610 ms
3 gi9-48.228.ccr01.par04.atlas.cogentco.com (149.6.164.1) 1.333 ms * 2.142 ms
4 te9-7.ccr04.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.0.209) 88.443 ms
te3-8.mpd03.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.93) 100.771 ms
te2-2.ccr04.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.157) 88.510 ms
5 te4-3.ccr01.jfk04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.0.154) 110.285 ms
te4-1.ccr01.jfk04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.162) 138.442 ms
te4-3.ccr01.jfk04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.0.154) 109.081 ms
6 65.19.102.197 (65.19.102.197) 106.407 ms 105.689 ms 108.411 ms
7 64.15.0.206 (64.15.0.206) 93.502 ms 93.003 ms 94.221 ms
8 rtr3-tg10-2.mhe.hcvlny.cv.net (64.15.4.34) 92.711 ms 92.637 ms 94.163 ms
9 67.59.255.130 (67.59.255.130) 106.033 ms 97.022 ms 95.085 ms

I don’t know how to interpret the results.

re: need more help

In reply to thanks but need more help

Explaining the results of a TRACERT is difficult, but I’ll try. Hopefully, someone like Mr. Kassner will step in to correct anything I mess up.
 

Basically though, TRACERT (Trace Route) measures how long it takes for a signal to go from one router/computer/server to the next with each ‘hop’ being a different router/computer/server. In the old days, I was told that a measurement of anything less than 150ms was considered good. Today, however, I believe the standards are much lower. So, for the purposes of this demonstration, let’s just say that any measurement of under 100ms is good. Using this guideline, you can see the times listed by your program are all high and the destination itself is crawling (290ms, 357ms, 301ms).
 

Your generic program is apparently listing the ‘hops’ in reverse order… the destination is first, the hops closest to you are last. The TRACERT command in Windows will list them beginning with the ones closest to you, going out to the destination last. SO, compare your results with the ones I get from Oregon. As you will see, I can’t even reach the destination at all. But, my times across the US as far as NY aren’t too bad. On my first attempt, the Seattle area had a slight bottleneck of over 200ms average. Later traces (shown below) showed the bottleneck gone. Since the “Internet” is fluid, constantly changing, a measurement you get in one minute can be completely different the next minute. Here’s my trace to the same destination:
 

?

Tracing route to ool-457b4db9.dyn.optonline.net [69.123.77.185]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

?

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
2 19 ms 9 ms 10 ms xxx.xxx.xxx.x
3 10 ms 11 ms 8 ms 68.186.73.53
4 10 ms 10 ms 9 ms 66-189-195-0.dhcp.ykma.wa.charter.com [66.189.195.0]
5 12 ms 13 ms 13 ms 66-189-195-3.dhcp.ykma.wa.charter.com [66.189.195.3]
6 15 ms 16 ms 16 ms te-4-2.car1.Seattle1.Level3.net [4.53.144.37]
7 22 ms 17 ms 36 ms ae-32-54.ebr2.Seattle1.Level3.net [4.68.105.126]
8 50 ms 53 ms 53 ms ae-2.ebr2.Denver1.Level3.net [4.69.132.54]
9 69 ms 65 ms 68 ms ae-3.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.132.62]
10 71 ms 70 ms 72 ms ae-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.140.189]
11 92 ms 90 ms 90 ms ae-2.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.132.66]
12 91 ms 90 ms 89 ms ae-62-62.csw1.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.134.82]
13 90 ms 88 ms 86 ms ae-1-69.edge2.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.68.16.16]
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

The next steps….

In reply to Thanks for your thorough response

Based on the additional information, your best bet would be to first test your internet upload & download speeds. Here are a few on-line testers:
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/

Speed Test: Check Your Upload/Download Speed & Ping

http://www.intel.com/consumer/game/broadband-speed-test.htm
and where you can get a copy of my favorite utility for testing connection speed, MySpeed Lite (free):
http://www.myspeed.com/pe/index.html
(select different servers in the drop-down)

Next, compare your results with what your IP states you should be getting. If your actual speed seems lower than expected, try resetting your cable or DSL modem. Do this by shutting down your system, disconnecting the modem from power for 20 – 30 seconds, reconnecting it to power and then rebooting your computer.

Next, check with the manufacturer of your system and/or motherboard to see if there are updated drivers available for your Network Interface Controller (NIC). Additionally, verify you are using CAT5e cabling for the best transfer rate and that the modem is not immediately next to any routers or switches.

The final step, if going through these steps does not improve your speed, would be to contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) since at this point it would appear to be at their end. They may have some additional suggestions and/or can test the connection themselves to determine a solution.

If, on the other hand, after you run the internet connection speed tests you discover that the problem is not in your broadband connection itself, then try accessing the sites that seem to be considerably slower from a different computer. The issue may related to how those sites are constructed, amount of traffic on the sites or the quality of their servers.

Perhaps if you give us an address of a site that is loading slowly, we could provide some more insight.

Good Luck.

thanks again

In reply to The next steps….

I ran the speed test and got good results: 7.66 mbps download speed.
The crux of the problem is that I never had slow page loading on any sites and now it occurs only on some sites, including techrepublic. In fact, as I’m typing this the rest of this page is still loading. The bottom of my screen says “transferring data from open-api.techrepublic.com” although it looks to me as if the whole page is on the screen. If I had to guess it seems that pages with animated graphics cause the problem. Others include weather.com, optonline.net.
I thought maybe my graphics card was the problem but I can run games with animation with no trouble.
If all my pages were slow, I would certainly think my ISP was the problem but the speed test seems to confirm that they are not the problem. It’s all very mysterious to me.

If you’re comparing TechRepublic to judge your load speed…

In reply to thanks again

We’re all getting slow loading pages here at TechRepublic….. namely, the Ad servers loading their ads. At least I am and have been for months.

So, if that’s what you’re using to judge your download speed…. it’s not just you. The Ad servers are just plain slow.

Somedays are worse than others

In reply to If you’re comparing TechRepublic to judge your load speed…

with the slow loading. There have been times that I have got up and walked away. Couple that with number 1 son on you tube and it is not a very pleasent experience. 😀

solution!!

In reply to Somedays are worse than others

I finally ran out of ideas and called my IP. Usually they are useless and just have me unplug and replug my modem and waste a lot of time and effort. This time the tech guy had me turn off my AV program and voila, everything is fine. I’ve been using Avast for months and had no trouble but apparently something has changed and it was preventing some pages from loading as quickly as they should. If anyone encounters this type of problem, I hope they will try doing what I did. Thanks to all who responded with other ideas. I learned a lot.

Glad to hear it! Who woulda thunk it was Avast?

In reply to Somedays are worse than others

I use Avast and have never noticed a page loading issue. But know that you’ve pointed it out, I will do some testing.
Perhaps there is a way to tweak web scanning. Or perhaps just disabling that feature all-together is the answer for now.

I am using

In reply to Somedays are worse than others

it as well, might be time for some testing. 😉

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