Affinity's Guide to troubleshooting common Internet issues related to speed and connectivity

In the "What the hell does this have to do with my Internet" section you are going to perform tasks that seem irrelevant to the Internet, however I assure you that if the computer is happy you're happy.

Index: to skip to a section pres 'CTRL+F' and paste whichever section you need into find.

-BEFORE READING THIS ARTICLE
-General Connectivity Issues
-Drivers
-Modem and router Troubleshooting
-What the hell does this have to do with my Internet?
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BEFORE READING THIS ARTICLE DO YOUR SELF A FAVOR AND COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING CHECK LIST
If you are using an Ethernet connection with a router make sure:
1. The network cable is plugged into the Ethernet port on your computer (if properly inserted a green and orange light will
display)
2. The other end of the network cable is plugged into one of the ports labeled 1-4.
3. The network cable coming from the modem is connected to the LAN port on the router. (This will be the port before port 1,
it may have a different name)
4. The network cable from the modem is connected to the modem!
5. The Modem's power supply is connected to the modem and the modem is turned on!
6. The router's power supply is connected to the router and the router is turned on!
7. The modem will have lights, varying in quantity, check to see if all the lights are steady green. (the activity and light
should be the only one that is blinking or not on as it only displays green when the connection is being actively used)
8. The router will also have lights, make sure they are green as well starting with the first light through any lights
corresponding with a port being used by your computers network cable.

If all the cables are connected and the power turned on but your modem does not have steady lights refer to the modem section of this guide, same goes for the router.
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Before starting any troubleshooting you first need to disable security programs you may be running. Once disabled check to see if the connection resumes normal speeds. If the connection does resume normal speeds refer to your security software's web page for proper configuration help. If not leave disabled and proceed to troubleshooting the issue. If you have custom security settings configured in your router I highly recommending restoring them all to default values unless you are 100 percent beyond a doubt positive they are configured correctly.
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General Connectivity Issues

Remember that the major cause of speed issues is network congestion caused by prime time use. This means that there will be times of day that no matter what you do you will not achieve satisfactory speeds if the ISP you're using has many customers in the area you reside.

Ethernet: I refer you back to the "BEFORE READING THIS" part of the guide.

Wireless: If you're using a wireless card make sure the software that came with it is properly installed. If you always have a weak signal try moving the router to a different location if possible.
-Ensure any encryption keys and methods being used match on the computer and router configuration page. If you don't know how to get to the router configuration page you probably don't have encryption enabled.
-Refer to this guide for Wireless troubleshooting.

If you have not changed the default settings in your web browser then your computer will be storing a lot of information that is intended to help you achieve more efficient browsing. The problem is if the files are not emptied they actually reduce your browsing speed.

Clearing the Cache and Cookies:

If you're using Internet Explorer skip to "Internet Explorer"

Mozilla Firefox:
Go to 'Tools > Options > Privacy'
Here you will see three categories, History / Cookies / Private Data.
Click on the Settings button in the Private Data area. A box will open with the following items listed:
-Browsing history
-Download History
-Saved Form Information
-Cache
-Cookies
-Saved Passwords
-Authenticated Sessions.

I personally have check marks in the following boxes, which everything checked is set to delete when the browser is closed:
-Browsing history
-Download History
-Saved form information
-Cache
-Authenticated Sessions.

Internet Explorer
If you're using Internet Explorer as your browser (which you shouldn't! go install Firefox) open your browser and navigate to:
Tools > Internet Options
Under the "Temporary Internet files" section click the "Delete Cookies" button, when that's finished click the "Delete Files" button and select the "delete all off line content" box and hit OK. After the files have been deleted click the "Settings" button. Set the "amount of disk space to use" value to 50MB.

Once you have finished clearing the cookies and cache restart your browser. If the connection speed has resumed normal speed congratulations your done. If not continue on.
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Drivers
Make sure all web browser windows are closed.

Follow these steps to get to the device drivers:
Right Click "My Computer" > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager

Here you will see a list, and you may even see some items with a yellow question mark. Ignore these items, unless they happen to be the device we are troubleshooting it has nothing to do with the current issue.

Expand the network adapter device tree. (click the plus sign next to the line that says network adapters)
If you're having issues with a wireless connection you will need to uninstall the wireless adapter, otherwise uninstall the Ethernet adapter. It will be the one that says wireless in the name, if it doesn't say wireless it's the one that does not say Ethernet. To uninstall the driver right click and select "uninstall driver". When it's finished restart the computer. When the computer starts back up don't do anything, you will see in the bottom right corner an icon and bubble saying "found new hardware" followed by "installing new devices" or something to that affect. Go back into the device manager and this time select the option to "update driver" on the network adapter instead of uninstalling. (Just follow the same steps as before up to the uninstall point)
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Modem and router Troubleshooting
**Disclaimer: don't screw with settings you don't know about, contact your ISP or manufacturer if you need help with that**

First we will be performing a soft power cycle, follow these steps exactly. The computer will need to be on for this.
1. On the base of the modem their is a little button that says reset, press and hold for 3 seconds.
2. Once the modem has finished the reset open your browser and enter the following exactly 192.168.0.1 (this is your modems address)
The page is going to ask you to input the modem access code when you try to perform the power cycle, on my modem this number is found on the bottom printed on a yellow sticker.
3. You will need to find the help page for your particular modem and determine where the Restart modem button is located on this page. If you don't think you should attempt this on your own call your ISP and tell them you need to perform a soft reset on the modem through the modem access page. They should be able to walk you through it.

Once the modem has finished resetting, which can take anywhere from 1 minute to 5 minutes, proceed to the next step for performing a hard power cycle. Turn the computer off and follow these steps:
1. Unplug the power cord from the modem
2. Wait 5 seconds
3. Unplug the power cord from the router
4. Wait 2 minutes (2 real minutes)
5. Plug the power back into the modem.
6. When all lights on the modem have turned steady proceed to step 7
7. Wait 15 seconds (same as step 4...15 real seconds)
8. Plug the power back into the router and wait until all lights are steady green
9. Turn the computer back on.

After you have finished power cycling the modem and router check your connection. If powercycling the modem and router does not resolve the issue move on to the next step.
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What the hell does this have to do with my Internet?

This part is the "what the hell does it have to do with my Internet" section. These steps are very simple, yet sometimes prove to be the solution to a slow connection. If your computer is well maintained and you are not having any performance issues outside of web browsing you can skip this part.

The first thing you need to do is run the disk cleanup utility. To get to disk cleanup do the following:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
When the box pops up asking what you want to do place a check mark in the following items:
-Downloaded Program Files
-Temporary Internet Files
-Temporary Files
-Web Client/Publisher temporary files
After these have check marks hit OK and wait for it to finish. After it has finished restart the computer.

If you're using an older computer with outdated hardware you may want to optimize it. If you absolutely can't live without the eye candy offered in XP or Vista then ignore this step. Set the computer to optimize its settings for performance rather than appearance: Select the "Adjust for best performance" button and hit apply. The computer will adjust immediately.

Optimize startup and disabled non needed services:
Start > Run > type 'msconfig' > hit enter
I have no way of knowing what type of software or settings you have personally installed and configured so I'm going to refer you to a guide by TechSpot for this section. Before following the guide I recommend selecting the “hide all Microsoft services” option in the services tab to avoid conflicts

After the computer reboots run the disk defragmenter utility. If you have never run this before I suggest you wait to do this step until you won't be using the computer for a few hours.
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If after completing all the steps in this guide you still have problems then you should post the issue in the Technical Discussions section.

Thanks Affinity

Your welcome. I know the guide is already pretty long but I was wondering if someone familiar with browsers other than firefox and IE would like to add to it. Also, if anyone has any ideas on how to make it more attractive to the reader that would be great. I want this to be a guide that is useful to all the "my connection is slow" or "can't connect" posts

Very Helpful Guide. thanks

Nice job! I'm saving a copy as a word.doc............you never know when you'll need it

someone has been busy, nice work affinity!!!

Thanks for the praise, I appreciate it.

thanks alot mate

Incredible Guide Affinity, very well written. Bookmarked for me for reference points

Glad to hear it's useful enough to be bookmarked

great guide, even for guys whove been around the block
always good to go back to basics

THANK YOU affinity
this is very good to have, I'm going to print this up
Great job

Very detailed, but...

If I'm having trouble with the Internet, how the hell will I access this?

Save it to your computer now and use it when you're having problems?

great rite-up....
thx 4 da helpful pointers...