[scitex59]

Greetings all,

I was recently asked by a friend to look at her office computer with a complaint that the system was sluggish (especially in regard to the Internet).

Following is a description of the machine:
Dell Studio XPS 7100 desktop
Six-core CPU running at 3.00 GHz
Six gigabytes of DDR3 10600 RAM

Started on system by cleaning it of dust bunnies (all vents were covered).
Checked performance through Task Manager and found the CPU running about 1% - 3% at rest. RAM usage was about 1.65 GB.
De-selected some non-essential startup items and got the base memory usage down to around 1.10 GB
I installed and ran CCleaner and removed 8.5 GB of clutter.
Malwarebytes found 19 PUP files.

Checked the Network settings and found that this particular system was configured with a wired connection as well as a wireless connection. The wired connection reports that it has a speed of 1 Gbps. The wireless indicates that it is connected at 54 Mbps.

There is an older Dell Optiplex 755 in this office running Windows 7 with only a wired Internet connection. This machine is a dual-core CPU equipped with 4 GB DDR2 667 MHz memory. As far as Internet speed, it is much faster than the better equipped XPS 7100.

Just wondering if it is possible that the XPS 7100 is using the wireless connection by default even though it also has a wired connection.
Thanks for your valuable input.

 

[scitex59]

I forgot to mention that the Dell XPS 7100 is running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

 

[spunk.funk]

If you just want to use the wired connection, you can disconnect from the wireless network and delete the Wireless Profile so the computer won't automatically connect to the WiFi Network at next bootup.
You also can go to Start/Search and type ncpa.cpl right click the Wireless adapter and Disable it.

 

[scitex59]

Made a visit to the physician's office where this computer is located today.
Ran Speedtest.net on this computer and found it had a download rate of 2.85 Mbps and an upload rate of 0.32 Mbps. This speed was with the ethernet connection.
I ran the same test on two other computers in the office and found they all performed with the same poor performance.
I booted the Dell XPS with an Ubuntu Mate DVD and my download/upload stats were the same. It appears that the computer is fine. It is the Internet connection where this problem seems to lie.
Now I'm really confused --- not sure where to go from here.

 

[jcgriff2]

Did you disconnect from the wifi so that you know that Ethernet is being used?

 

[spunk.funk]

Then talk to the ISP, have them test the lines.

 

[scitex59]

Yes, I disabled the wifi and attempted the speedtest with only ethernet and achieved the same results.
The other machines in the office are only connected with ethernet. All of these gave identical results for download and upload speeds.
Thanks for your valuable advice.

 

[djaburg]

Perhaps that's all they're paying for from their ISP. If all computers are getting the same, then I'd assume it's their connection, not the machines. If the internet comes in to a modem, then in to a router, you could hook just a single computer to the modem and see what kind of speed you get. Obviously this doesn't work as well if it's a modem/router combo device.