| Life without surfing the Web is as | | | | report their values in different formats. |
| unthinkable as life without the telephone.No | | | | |
| matter what you're doing in any given day, | | | | In the evening Internet traffic is much |
| whether it be shopping, checking the weather, | | | | higher and you want to know how fast your |
| or catching up on the events around the | | | | connection is during this time. With this |
| world, we all have a tendency to go online to | | | | data written down and safely put away, you |
| get the scoop on these matters. | | | | should want to find out how fast your modem |
| | | | is at other times, especially in the |
| Whether you're thinking about starting your | | | | mornings. |
| first Internet connection or you want to get | | | | |
| the most out of your existing connection, | | | | This values may be reported in 1kb or 1 |
| knowing how to accomplish this can boost that | | | | kilobyte or 1MB which is 1 megabytes.Look at |
| connection and make your web surfing much | | | | the site's reporting values and take careful, |
| more enjoyable. | | | | detailed notes of each connection speed test. |
| | | | |
| If your starting out for the first time, you | | | | To optimize either connection you will need |
| must find an ISP or Internet Service Provider | | | | to tweak Windows Settings and install |
| in your area that serves as a middleman | | | | optimization software.If you have a Dial-Up |
| between your PC and the Internet. | | | | connection and use Windows 98 or Me, click |
| | | | Start, Settings, and click Control Panel. |
| Once you have found yourself a reliable ISP, | | | | Then right click the Modems icon. |
| you have two choices of Internet connections. | | | | |
| The slower of the two is the Dial-Up | | | | Now click Properties, and choose the General |
| connection but its also the cheapest.If you | | | | tab.Use the Maximum Speed Drop-Down menu to |
| can afford to pay a higher monthly fee, a | | | | select 115200. If this setting causes your |
| broadband connection is the way to go. | | | | Modem to no longer connect, change it to |
| | | | 57600. |
| Whichever connection you have or start first, | | | | |
| it can probably run faster with a little | | | | Windows XP users should click Start, Control |
| optimization. In order to improve your | | | | Panel and switch to classic view.Double-click |
| current Internet connection, it would be to | | | | the Phone And Modem options and choose the |
| your advantage to know your current | | | | Modem tab. |
| connection speed. | | | | |
| | | | Change the maximum settings port speed to |
| Check this by running a Speed Test at such | | | | 115200 and if the Modem responds poorly or |
| sites as PC Pit Stop at and if you're | | | | not at all, change the speed to 57600. |
| running a broadband connection, try Broadband | | | | |
| Speed at and another is Broadband Reports at | | | | Broadband users should consider using a tweak |
| | | | utility such as TCP Optimizer at and after |
| | | | downloading the software, you run it and make |
| You can go to such search engines as Google | | | | a backup of your current settings. |
| or MSN and perform a search for let's say, | | | | |
| "Internet Speed Test" and you will have a ton | | | | Save the backup, and follow the instructions |
| of software allowing you to test your | | | | in the software to optimize your broadband |
| Internet connection and many are free. | | | | speed.Don't forget to click apply changes and |
| | | | click Yes if the software ask you to re-boot |
| The Broadband Speed Test site allow you to | | | | the computer. |
| test up to three times a month free.After | | | | |
| that you can purchase a subscription and test | | | | And now you're on the home stretcth. Your |
| up to 1,000 tests for $60.00. You can also | | | | computer should run faster now.If the new |
| purchase just 100 speed tests for just $12.00 | | | | settings cause trouble, return to the program |
| | | | and restore your back up settings. If you |
| Run a few speed tests to objectively test the | | | | failed to make a backup, restore Windows |
| connection and its best to run tests at | | | | default settings. |
| different hours of the day.These test sites | | | | |