Is the problem a slow computer, or is Internet service to blame?

By Rick Castellini, Special to PRIME A common problem I hear throughout my week is "My computer is slow." I finally learned to ask, "Is your computer slow, or is your Internet slow?" The computer user usually pauses, thinks and often responds that it is his or her Internet that is slow; not the computer. When I sit down at a client's computer, I can quickly determine the health of a computer based on how quickly I can perform simple tasks like checking background processes, determining how current and what security products are being used, free hard drive space, and how much RAM (http://tinyurl.com/a-zRAMinstall) is installed on the machine. Generally speaking, if a computer was bought any time after 2003, it is probably fast enough for email, Internet, word processing, digital photography, and other basic uses. If all goes well during these probes, I know the computer is doing pretty well, and it's time to check out the Internet. Internet speed starts with the Internet connection. The fastest connections available in the United States are fiber optic, followed by cable, cellular wireless, DSL, and finally satellite. You can test your Internet speed by going to PC Pitstop (http://pcpitstop.com/internet/bw.asp) or SpeedTest.net (http://speedtest.net/). If your download speed isn't at least 1.2 megabits per second (1200 kbps), you have a slow Internet connection (http://tinyurl.com/256kdsl). Online video playback will be choppy, downloading large emails will be slow, and some web sites will load slowly (http://tinyurl.com/fix-choppy-video). Note, too, that high speed Internet can and will slow down as more people jump online at the same time. You might find that your cable connection is slower in the evening hours than during the day.this is because more people are sharing that connection at that time. And with more and more people watching and uploading video online than ever before, our Internet speeds are stressed much more than just a few years ago. Use these tests to make sure that you are getting near the advertised speed from your Internet provider. If not, you might want to check with them to make sure that there is nothing wrong with your connection from them. Make sure to follow these other recommendations, however, before making the call to make sure the problem doesn't reside on your end. No matter what your Internet speed is, you can maximize it by using a faster, safer browser like Google Chrome (http://tinyurl.com/usegchrome) or Mozilla Firefox (http://helpmerick.com/tag/firefox). You can also make your Internet (and computer) faster by using a leaner, meaner, yet strong security product like AVG(http://tinyurl.com/installAVG9) or Microsoft Security Essentials (http://tinyurl.com/installMSE). Also, your computer and Internet can run faster if you use the free CCleaner utility (http://tinyurl.com/useCCleaner) to keep the computer saw dust (behind the scenes files that get created but not purged) under control. The next time you think that your computer is getting slow.ask yourself if it is the Internet or the computer itself that is slow. Chances are your computer functions fine, but the Internet is slow. Rick Castellini is an author, computer consultant, and hosts a computer radio show from Colorado. Visit his web site at www.HelpMeRick for new tips every week and sign up for his free weekly email newsletter. You can also follow Rick on Twitter @HelpMeRick