Slow Page Changes

[Alan]

Hi Everyone,

I have noticed that many of you are asking about the speed of page changes on the forum. Lisa and I are working on deleting old posts, but I don’t think this will make a lot of difference if you are not looking at these old posts. Because, I think you will mainly be looking at the last 100.

Tony has quite rightly mentioned the speed of your processors and cleaning your hard drive. But it doesn’t just stop there, you also have to consider. Such things as, how much Ram you have, what other programmes you have running in the background, if you have spy ware (these really slow you down) what time of day it is, because the servers are in America. Also, whether you are on dial-up or broadband and what speed your broadband is. When you click on the last one hundred postings this has to refresh the page, meaning it has to bring all that info down the line. And, now that we have graphics on with every one’s photos, well, this slows it down quite considerably. I have personally noticed that it is much faster about 10 am and round about 6 pm. After school is out and in the evening after tea up until about three in the morning then it is very busy. Things are slower.

I have tried disabling the graphics in my web browser and this make is it slightly faster but not a lot. Talking about browsers, this also makes a difference, which version or browser you have. There are many others that I just can’ think off the top of my head at the moment. But just take note of what times of the day it is faster or slower this will give you and idea.

Hope this has helped?

It was nice to see Kath back online. Sorry to hear about the pain you have been having Kath.

Regards,
Alan

[Lisa]

Thanks for that Alan - Another computer genius for us to send our problems to Thanks for the explanations and will try them. You and Tony could make a fortune visiting us ladies and repairing our computers !!!!!

[tony38337]

Mozilla Firefox is an alternative browser, I use it because it has inbuilt protection against spyware, like most things there are pros & cons but I can tell you positively that when I installed it it detected seven spyware items and it gives notice every time it blocks an attempt, I feel on balance that it's well worth it, one of the minor drawbacks is that I cant open email from within Firefox I have to start it from the desktop icon,I consider that a small price to pay. Incidently spyware can also slow down your machine.

Tony T

[christine]

HI TONY,WHAT ARE THESE TROGEN HORSES XXCHRIS

[Alan]

Chris,

Thought I would answer for Tony as he is off line. A Trojan Horse.

A destructive program that masquerades as a benign application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer.

So, it means that you can download a programme believing it may help you do something useful when it's main purpose is to spy or use your computer.

Sometimes your computer can also be used as a Zombie. This means a programme has been set-up on your computer and it may be sending out lots of spam emails. This of course slows it right down.

You should check on your firewall or router lights to see how much activity is going on. If for instance you are not down or uploading anything and computer is, then it may not have had your consent, so check it out.

Tony is right about Mozilla Firefox. I also have this browser. I still use also use Internet Explorer with add ons to block pop ups and various other things

There is a free spy and ad ware blocker called Adaware. It is quite good. Also, Spy-Bot, this is also good and free.

Alan

[christine]

thanks alan, i wonderd what they were we had 2 on yesterday xchris

[fluffymoat4]

To Alan and Tony, we have always (and still do) used a McAfee Security System but unfortunately people find a way around these when sending SPAM messages. McAfee are also excellent at spotting potential dangers and it upates itself regularly. The other day it added a new string to it's bow - whenever I do an online SEARCH it tells me which sites are good (Manmates passed), which haven't yet been checked by McAfee and which have been checked and are DODGY!
I've noticed email senders even use the word ***SPAM*** in the subject line! I don't mind deleting them myself and, in fact, sometimes MSN or ORANGE put emails in our JUNK folder even when they aren't junk and even when the sender's address is clearly in our address book. I view my INBOX and JUNK box each day, several times in fact, to make sure I am receiving all my emails. It seems all emails in the JUNK box are deleted within 5 days (with MSN anyway - don't know about Orange).
Once or twice this month I have had emails I had sent to people returned to me, supposedly undelivered!!! When I contact the person concerned they say that they HAVE received the email. I guess it's just one of those things - the internet has a lot of glitches that still need ironing out. I find that nothing is guaranteed these days as I still have problems occasionally with SNAIL mail! What is it they say? "These things are sent to try us?"

[Lisa]

Hi Little Mo and Everyone, After Alan & Tony's tips yesterday, I did a clean up of my computer and remembered I hadnt done a DEFRAGMENTATION for ages, so I did one (which took a long time) and HEY PRESTO, my pages are turning much quicker and the screen looks much brighter. It also only took a few minutes to open up Broadband, MSN, Hotail etc. So, if anyone wants to know how to do a DEFRAG let me know and I'll tell you. Its quite easy. I also did a disc clean-up and got rid of all my cookies too. I shall now do one every week to get rid of unwanted stuff stored in my hardrive. If anyone has Norton Security, did they know that if you switch on your computer at 8pm EVERY FRIDAY it automatically cleans up your computer of any viruses???

[Alan]

Hi Everyone,

Hi Lisa,

You are so right about the defrag and cookies they are other things that slow it all down.


Alan