XP internet speed issues on new laptop

1876 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by johnwill, Aug 19, 2003

couperin1626

Discussion Starter · Aug 19, 2003

I wasn't quite sure where to post this query, as it combines hardware and software elements. Anyway, I have been using the same sturdy Gateway PC for some six years - P200, 32MB RAM, 56k internet, Win 95 - but I recently purchased a portable machine to go alongside it.

Obviously I was expecting a significant performance increase from a new machine (Dell SmartPC) with 2GHz P4, 256MB RAM and Win XP Pro. However, this has not entirely been the case. While programs which require heavy duty specs (such as Cubase SX for audio editing) run much more smoothly than they could ever have done on the older machine, many aspects of Win XP seem slow.

For instance (I don't know if this is common to the OS), the Start Bar and other drop-down menus are slow to load, taking a few seconds to appear - surely there is no good reason for this? Also, the internet is something of a problem. The new laptop also has 56k modem and I am using exactly the same ISP connection, but Internet Explorer under XP is significantly slower than on my old Win95 machine! Webpages take about three times as long (at least) to load, with the green status bar taking a good minute to fill. Why on earth should this be the case with the same connection spec and a much more powerful system??

I think maybe the system settings are not configured to the optimum, so I have considered investing in one of these web tweak/accelerator programs, but there are scores of them, and I've been told that they're actually rubbish anyway. In all, I'm rather frustrated by the apparent shortcomings of this new machine's setup. Can you suggest any solutions?

Thanks

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DocDVD

· #2 · Aug 19, 2003

Hi,

for your Internet Speed Problems:
Try deactivating/deinstalling the QoS-Service (under Network Options for your dial up device), the service should be listed in the box with the TCP/IP protocoll, MS Client service, etc. (I don't exactly remember the name right now).

For your menu performance problems: You can deactivate many of the "visual features" in the advanced section of the task bar/starmenu options. This should increase the performance of the GUI.

Hope that gives you some leads...

I'd like to be more specific but I'm sitting at work in front of a W2K PC right now....
:winkgrin:

cya
DocDVD

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Drifters

· #3 · Aug 19, 2003

I've seen the same problems with Xp also... I've found that if I turned off the AntiVirus off that it runs a lot smoother... This isn't really safe but it's what I found out that works in speeding the start menu up...

Try getting the latest version to your AntiVirus software and make sure that it is compatible with Xp....

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johnwill

· #4 · Aug 19, 2003

Actually, the "fact" that QoS-Service slows down network access is just an urban myth, in truth it doesn't. It's also not necessary, so killing it won't hurt anything, but it's not going to solve the problem.

The first thing I do when I install XP for my use is to kill off all the gingerbread junk and use classic menus, set the delay to 0 for all menus, and turn off web content in all folders. This has a significant effect on the apparent speed.

As far as the Intenet speed, is it possible that you're not connecting at the same speed, the modem could be getting a slower connection. Also, you may not have compression enabled on the connection.

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couperin1626

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 19, 2003

Well I have been searching for further info and I just installed Ad-Aware. There was some SpyWare on my system, and removing it appears to have improved performance *slightly*.

However, it seems that IE6 on my new system (XP) is still slower than IE5 on my old (W98). Is there a significant difference between these two browsers, and would installing the IE6 service pack improve its performance?

Thanks

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johnwill

· #6 · Aug 19, 2003

I doubt installing the IE6 SP1 will do anything for performance, it didn't for me.

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