Help, slow computer

[magineer02]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3 , Windows Firewall, Avast antivirus, Spywareblaster, and run Firefox for the Internet and all the programs work well together and are up to date.

Earlier today I noticed that my Internet pages were loading very slow and so I called Verizon because I thought it was a connectivity issue. After working with them for 5 hours where they ran a malware test using Malwarebytesand checked my settings I’m still where I was with slow loading pages.

Some pages like Yahoo come right up while most others don’t load at all or are very slow to load such as this Google page.

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or advice as to what the problem is and how to resolve it?

Thank you,
Robert

 

[Twayne]

In

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3 , Windows
Firewall, Avast antivirus, Spywareblaster, and run
Firefox for the Internet and all the programs work well
together and are up to date.

Earlier today I noticed that my Internet pages were
loading very slow and so I called Verizon because I
thought it was a connectivity issue. After working with
them for 5 hours where they ran a malware test using
Malwarebytes and checked my settings Im still where I
was with slow loading pages.

Some pages like Yahoo come right up while most others
dont load at all or are very slow to load such as this
Google page.

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or advice as to what
the problem is and how to resolve it?

Thank you,
Robert

I'd go to a Command Prompt and run tracert on the routes to
Verizon or whatever site is slow, then a fast one for comparison.
You may find a node that's causing the slow-down rather than
anything at your / their end.

tracert /help for full syntaxes.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[magineer02]

I'd go to a Command Prompt and run tracert on the routes to

Verizon or whatever site is slow, then a fast one for comparison.

You may find a node that's causing the slow-down rather than

anything at your / their end.



tracert /help for full syntaxes.



HTH,



Twayne`

The computer is still sluggish and slow today and pages either won't load at all or take forever to load. The one exception is Yahoo.

I tried going to the Tracert site but I'm not sure how to use it to run a test to Verizon and a 'fast' one for comparison. I also tried typing in tracert at the command prompt which gave me 4 options
-d do not resolve addresses to hostnames
-h maxium_hops maximum number of hops to search for targets
-j host-list Loose source route along host-list
-w timeout wait timeout milliseconds for each reply


Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

 

[magineer02]

I'd go to a Command Prompt and run tracert on the routes to

Verizon or whatever site is slow, then a fast one for comparison.

You may find a node that's causing the slow-down rather than

anything at your / their end.



tracert /help for full syntaxes.



HTH,



Twayne`

I also tried typing in tracert /help at the CMD prompt and it came back with 'A value must be supplied for option /help'.

Robert

 

[Paul]

I also tried typing in tracert /help at the CMD prompt and it came back with 'A value must be supplied for option /help'.

Robert

Your problem could be a DNS problem.

When you type

http://www.google.com

into a browser, the information is not in a format which is useful.
To reach Google, the browser "needs a number", that number being
the IP address.

To get the number, your computer consults a DNS server. Your ISP
can have many DNS servers, or you can manually modify the computer
to use a "big name" DNS service. Google actually offers such a thing
for free.

Now, to debug DNS problems, you can again go to the command prompt
(just like you were doing with tracert).

Open a command prompt window, and in there type

nslookup www.google.com

That does basically the same operation your (slow) browser is doing.

Now, watch the dynamics of the response.

If the answer and command prompt character come back immediately,
that means something answered the DNS query quickly.

But, say the thing stalled for five seconds, and then the answer
came back.

Typically, an ISP uses two DNS servers. They're redundant. When your
computer signs into the ISP, and connects up, the ISP sends down
the addresses of the two DNS servers.

Now, when you run the "nslookup" command, the computer will
consult the first DNS server. If the attempt fails (the DNS server
is dead, and the attempt times out), then your computer will consult
the second available DNS address. If that too times out, then
nslookup will report a problem, and no numeric translation
of the www.google.com address will be provided. In the browser,
such a failure would be reported as a connection problem.

On some computer OSes, the DNS servers are consulted round robin.
If a dead DNS server is detected, the OS will consult the second
DNS server the next time, and the time after that. There will be
no slowdown. If the second DNS server goes away, such an OS switches
back to the first DNS server and tries that. Basically, the OS
"parks" on the working DNS server. Windows doesn't do that.

On Windows, Windows will keep trying the first DNS server, even though
it is dead. This might add a five second delay to each browser transaction,
which would cause quite a pronounced slowdown. Rather than being a
"bandwidth degradation", the effect is much worse, and it's actually
a "time domain" effect, where things kinda stop for a period of seconds,
until the timeout triggers an attempt to use the second DNS address.

So now you're ready to "study your DNS".

nslookup www.yahoo.com

and say it comes back fast. Translations can be cached, and even if
DNS is entirely dead, perhaps the computer still "knows the number for Yahoo".

nslookup www.someobscurewebsite.com

Now, we try a web site we don't normally use, to see if a "fresh"
DNS translation happens in a short interval or not. The web site
you choose, should be a real one, and not a fake. An example of a
site you might not use is www.sun.com for example (Sun Microsystems),
and that one I think it has a single IP address as the translation output.
(Sun was bought by Oracle.)

If you now reboot the computer, you may find attempts to reach
yahoo.com with the web browser, are now just as slow as other
sites. If you reboot, I would expect the DNS cache to get
flushed on the computer. Other networking devices can have
DNS caches, and still have the info when needed.

So it's not always a "raw bandwidth" problem. Sometimes it is a
problem with IP address translation.

To a limited extent, you can also study the dynamics with
software such as Wireshark (packet sniffer and logger). But
in this case, the nslookup thing is a bit simpler to operate.
Wireshark has a *lot* of options, and takes a bit of getting
used to.

Paul

 

[magineer02]

Your problem could be a DNS problem.



When you type



http://www.google.com



into a browser, the information is not in a format which is useful.

To reach Google, the browser "needs a number", that number being

the IP address.



To get the number, your computer consults a DNS server. Your ISP

can have many DNS servers, or you can manually modify the computer

to use a "big name" DNS service. Google actually offers such a thing

for free.



Now, to debug DNS problems, you can again go to the command prompt

(just like you were doing with tracert).



Open a command prompt window, and in there type



nslookup www.google.com



That does basically the same operation your (slow) browser is doing.



Now, watch the dynamics of the response.



If the answer and command prompt character come back immediately,

that means something answered the DNS query quickly.



But, say the thing stalled for five seconds, and then the answer

came back.



Typically, an ISP uses two DNS servers. They're redundant. When your

computer signs into the ISP, and connects up, the ISP sends down

the addresses of the two DNS servers.



Now, when you run the "nslookup" command, the computer will

consult the first DNS server. If the attempt fails (the DNS server

is dead, and the attempt times out), then your computer will consult

the second available DNS address. If that too times out, then

nslookup will report a problem, and no numeric translation

of the www.google.com address will be provided. In the browser,

such a failure would be reported as a connection problem.



On some computer OSes, the DNS servers are consulted round robin.

If a dead DNS server is detected, the OS will consult the second

DNS server the next time, and the time after that. There will be

no slowdown. If the second DNS server goes away, such an OS switches

back to the first DNS server and tries that. Basically, the OS

"parks" on the working DNS server. Windows doesn't do that.



On Windows, Windows will keep trying the first DNS server, even though

it is dead. This might add a five second delay to each browser transaction,

which would cause quite a pronounced slowdown. Rather than being a

"bandwidth degradation", the effect is much worse, and it's actually

a "time domain" effect, where things kinda stop for a period of seconds,

until the timeout triggers an attempt to use the second DNS address.



So now you're ready to "study your DNS".



nslookup www.yahoo.com



and say it comes back fast. Translations can be cached, and even if

DNS is entirely dead, perhaps the computer still "knows the number for Yahoo".



nslookup www.someobscurewebsite.com



Now, we try a web site we don't normally use, to see if a "fresh"

DNS translation happens in a short interval or not. The web site

you choose, should be a real one, and not a fake. An example of a

site you might not use is www.sun.com for example (Sun Microsystems),

and that one I think it has a single IP address as the translation output..

(Sun was bought by Oracle.)



If you now reboot the computer, you may find attempts to reach

yahoo.com with the web browser, are now just as slow as other

sites. If you reboot, I would expect the DNS cache to get

flushed on the computer. Other networking devices can have

DNS caches, and still have the info when needed.



So it's not always a "raw bandwidth" problem. Sometimes it is a

problem with IP address translation.



To a limited extent, you can also study the dynamics with

software such as Wireshark (packet sniffer and logger). But

in this case, the nslookup thing is a bit simpler to operate.

Wireshark has a *lot* of options, and takes a bit of getting

used to.



Paul

To Paul,
I tried all your examples and they all came back fast so it seems that my DNS is ok?

To everyone below, please post replies to the original thread as I'm confused enough at this point.


I had the same symptoms and it turned out to be my wifi router. Replacing it

did the trick.

Gordon W

As far as a router I don't have one. I have a APC surge protector which the modem plugs into and an ethernet cable running from the modem to the computer so there is no router.

I will add that although Yahoo pulls up with no problem, if I click on anything its the same thing as all the other sites I've gone to and acts as if the computer is in a loop.

Verizon had the opinion that I have malware on my system. What I am dreading is if I have to reformat my HD if I can't resolve this and I do not have a dedicated backup.

To Stefan – please read my posts this is happening all the time, morning,noon, and night. It has nothing to do with Internet traffic.

To Ben – I have thought of using System restore but if I’m infected with malware then as I understand it doing a System restore won’t accomplishanything.

To Philo – I don’t know how to empty the Internet cache or to set the size.


Robert

 

[Twayne]

In

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3 , Windows
Firewall, Avast antivirus, Spywareblaster, and run
Firefox for the Internet and all the programs work well
together and are up to date.

Earlier today I noticed that my Internet pages were
loading very slow and so I called Verizon because I
thought it was a connectivity issue. After working with
them for 5 hours where they ran a malware test using
Malwarebytes and checked my settings Im still where I
was with slow loading pages.

Some pages like Yahoo come right up while most others
dont load at all or are very slow to load such as this
Google page.

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or advice as to what
the problem is and how to resolve it?

Thank you,
Robert

Took me awhile to find it, but I finally got your original
posting back. You've been getting some less than great input, so
I'll try to straiighten out the use of tracert:

Open a Command Prompt to get the DOS-like window.
It doesn't matter what drive or path you are on: it'll work from
anywhere. I have a sample read-out of a tracert to Symantec.com
I'll post here. This is what's on my screen:
==================
C:\Documents and Settings\Twayne>tracert www.symantec.com

Tracing route to e5211.b.akamaiedge.net [184.28.251.29]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms dslrouter [xxx.xxx.x.x - I munged
out the real address there. ]
2 35 ms 34 ms 33 ms 10.16.11.1
3 34 ms 33 ms 34 ms
G10-0-2-2203.SYRCNY-LCR-02.verizon-gni.net [130.81.196.134]
4 42 ms 67 ms 42 ms
P15-3.CLPPVA-LCR-02.verizon-gni.net [130.81.28.186]
5 95 ms 47 ms 46 ms 0.xe-1-0-2.XT2.NYC9.ALTER.NET
[152.63.2.69]
6 47 ms 46 ms 44 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XT2.NYC4.ALTER.NET
[152.63.17.97]
7 49 ms 49 ms 48 ms TenGigE0-7-1-0.GW8.NYC4.ALTER.NET
[152.63.21.125]
8 43 ms 43 ms 43 ms
a184-28-251-29.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com [184.28.251.29]

Trace complete.
==================

"tracert" means to "Trace the Route".
As you can see, I used NO flags; the defaults work fine and will
cover up to 30 hops (nodes) by default, and only 8 were used in
my quick test here.

#1 is me: That's my Gateway Router where the trace initiated
from.
#2 thru 7 are in-between nodes the trace went through in order to
get to Symantec.com.
#8 is the final hop, ending at Symantec, although it may not look
like it.
"Trace Complete" indicates there were no errors and the trace
completed. Not ALL nodes will respond sometimes, and you'll see
that in the trace if anyone refused the trace - very few do
though.
This is the best indicator of what's happening on the net,
including starting with your own local IP. Not the WAN IP, the
computer or router's IP, which is static and doesn't change.

So, you do NOT need an IP: The URL will do just fine. At the
prompt, type "tracert", a space, and the URL of the site you want
to see how long the various nodes took to relay your message
onward. "Good" times are in the order of 50mS or less, where
"bad" times are anything upwards of 100 mS. Those "hops" are
through what's called a "backbone" on the 'net and it may well be
one of those that are being slow.
If all the times look good, and the hops appear reasonably
quickly, that's saying the route to that site is fine.

Synopsis:
Tracert usually needs no flags for # of hops, timeouts, etc..
The defaults work fine for nearly all situations.
You do not need an IP #: The URL will work just fine because
your computer automatically looks up the IP so you never need to
know it, really.
The time durations shown in the route are for a "packet"
(don't recall how many or the size of the packet ini bytes) to go
to and return back to you.

When tracert shows no problems, then there is either a problem at
the website you're trying to reach (too much traffic, a server
out of commission, etc. etc. etc..
OR, the problem could be at your machine just as easily. In
this case I'd update your AV and all the malware detectors you
have, and toss everything you have at it to see what's found. For
this case, Windows Defender and MalwareBites are likely the two
best detectors, but don't rule out any other legit ones you may
have.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3 , Windows Firewall, Avast
antivirus, Spywareblaster, and run Firefox for the Internet and all
the programs work well together and are up to date.

Earlier today I noticed that my Internet pages were loading very slow
and so I called Verizon because I thought it was a connectivity
issue. After working with them for 5 hours where they ran a malware
test using Malwarebytes and checked my settings I’m still where I was
with slow loading pages.

Some pages like Yahoo come right up while most others don’t load at
all or are very slow to load such as this Google page.

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or advice as to what the problem
is and how to resolve it?

Thank you, Robert

As others have mentioned:
Dump the cache
Try new DNS numbers (Do a web search for free dns)
Inspect your HOSTS file for a redirect.

 

[magineer02]

As others have mentioned:

Dump the cache

Try new DNS numbers (Do a web search for free dns)

Inspect your HOSTS file for a redirect.

As I have mentioned, I do not know how to dump the cache, and I do not knowhow to inspect my HOSTS file. Please provide instructions for your suggestions because obviously if I knew how to do these things I would have.

Update - I ran a system wide scan and then turned off the computer for awhile and when I can back online it seemed everything was back to normal!?????? With the exception of Hotmail not being able to sign in but it did afterwards. It seems I may have been right all along and that it was a Verizon issue??? I'll monitor this the rest of tonight and see how it performs.

Robert

 

[magineer02]

In

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3 , Windows

Firewall, Avast antivirus, Spywareblaster, and run

Firefox for the Internet and all the programs work well

together and are up to date.

Earlier today I noticed that my Internet pages were

loading very slow and so I called Verizon because I

thought it was a connectivity issue. After working with

them for 5 hours where they ran a malware test using

Malwarebytes and checked my settings Im still where I

was with slow loading pages.

Some pages like Yahoo come right up while most others

dont load at all or are very slow to load such as this

Google page.

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or advice as to what

the problem is and how to resolve it?

Thank you,

Robert

Took me awhile to find it, but I finally got your original

posting back. You've been getting some less than great input, so

I'll try to straiighten out the use of tracert:



Open a Command Prompt to get the DOS-like window.

It doesn't matter what drive or path you are on: it'll work from

anywhere. I have a sample read-out of a tracert to Symantec.com

I'll post here. This is what's on my screen:

==================

C:\Documents and Settings\Twayne>tracert www.symantec.com



Tracing route to e5211.b.akamaiedge.net [184.28.251.29]

over a maximum of 30 hops:



1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms dslrouter [xxx.xxx.x.x - I munged

out the real address there. ]

2 35 ms 34 ms 33 ms 10.16.11.1

3 34 ms 33 ms 34 ms

G10-0-2-2203.SYRCNY-LCR-02.verizon-gni.net [130.81.196.134]

4 42 ms 67 ms 42 ms

P15-3.CLPPVA-LCR-02.verizon-gni.net [130.81.28.186]

5 95 ms 47 ms 46 ms 0.xe-1-0-2.XT2.NYC9.ALTER.NET

[152.63.2.69]

6 47 ms 46 ms 44 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XT2.NYC4.ALTER.NET

[152.63.17.97]

7 49 ms 49 ms 48 ms TenGigE0-7-1-0.GW8.NYC4.ALTER.NET

[152.63.21.125]

8 43 ms 43 ms 43 ms

a184-28-251-29.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com [184.28.251.29]



Trace complete.

==================



"tracert" means to "Trace the Route".

As you can see, I used NO flags; the defaults work fine and will

cover up to 30 hops (nodes) by default, and only 8 were used in

my quick test here.



#1 is me: That's my Gateway Router where the trace initiated

from.

#2 thru 7 are in-between nodes the trace went through in order to

get to Symantec.com.

#8 is the final hop, ending at Symantec, although it may not look

like it.

"Trace Complete" indicates there were no errors and the trace

completed. Not ALL nodes will respond sometimes, and you'll see

that in the trace if anyone refused the trace - very few do

though.

This is the best indicator of what's happening on the net,

including starting with your own local IP. Not the WAN IP, the

computer or router's IP, which is static and doesn't change.



So, you do NOT need an IP: The URL will do just fine. At the

prompt, type "tracert", a space, and the URL of the site you want

to see how long the various nodes took to relay your message

onward. "Good" times are in the order of 50mS or less, where

"bad" times are anything upwards of 100 mS. Those "hops" are

through what's called a "backbone" on the 'net and it may well be

one of those that are being slow.

If all the times look good, and the hops appear reasonably

quickly, that's saying the route to that site is fine.



Synopsis:

Tracert usually needs no flags for # of hops, timeouts, etc..

The defaults work fine for nearly all situations.

You do not need an IP #: The URL will work just fine because

your computer automatically looks up the IP so you never need to

know it, really.

The time durations shown in the route are for a "packet"

(don't recall how many or the size of the packet ini bytes) to go

to and return back to you.



When tracert shows no problems, then there is either a problem at

the website you're trying to reach (too much traffic, a server

out of commission, etc. etc. etc..

OR, the problem could be at your machine just as easily. In

this case I'd update your AV and all the malware detectors you

have, and toss everything you have at it to see what's found. For

this case, Windows Defender and MalwareBites are likely the two

best detectors, but don't rule out any other legit ones you may

have.



HTH,



Twayne`

I did try a few Tracert's and they all came back quickly although when I tried hotmail and ebay it says request timed out at the end like it was in a loop?

Robert

 

[Paul]

Update - I ran a system wide scan and then turned off the
computer for awhile and when I can back online it seemed everything
was back to normal!?????? With the exception of Hotmail not being
able to sign in but it did afterwards. It seems I may have been
right all along and that it was a Verizon issue??? I'll monitor
this the rest of tonight and see how it performs.

Robert

Symptoms of DNS. Too bad you didn't test for it.

Don't worry. The problem will come back.

Paul

 

[Stefan Patric]

[snip]

To Stefan – please read my posts this is happening all the time,
morning, noon, and night. It has nothing to do with Internet traffic.

I got the impression that the slowness was only web page loading related.

Are other applications that don't use the Internet slow, too?

For now, try this: Shutdown your computer, unplug it, and let it sit for
at least 3 minutes, then boot it. Any change?

If it's back to normal, this is normal with Windows. Windows needs
periodic shutdowns for system "cleaning" purposes that can't (or
shouldn't) be done while it's running. Turning your system off and
letting it sit for more than 3 minutes usually assures that when your
system logs onto your ISP you'll get a new IP number.

Also, periodically (once or twice a month) run the disk cleaner, and
check to see if your hard drive needs defragging.

Also, after a clean boot, load the task manager (right click in the
bottom panel, pick task manager) and check your RAM usage: Total amount,
how much used, how much available. If you don't have at least double
(triple is better) the RAM used for Total RAM after booting with nothing
else running, you may be running out of RAM, and you system is using
Virtual Memory which will cause system sluggishness.

Also, check how full your hard drive is. If it's 90% or more, time for
house cleaning or a bigger drive. A really full drive will affect system
performance, too.

Stef

 

[dadiOH]

Update - I ran a system wide scan and then turned off the computer
for awhile and when I can back online it seemed everything was back
to normal!?????? With the exception of Hotmail not being able to sign
in but it did afterwards. It seems I may have been right all along
and that it was a Verizon issue??? I'll monitor this the rest of
tonight and see how it performs.

FWIW, my ISP is Verizon too and from time to time I'll try to access a
website and it will just sit there spinning. It spins because it can't
connect. Resetting the DSL modem fixes it. Reset either by turning off the
modem for 10-15 seconds or rebooting the computer.



--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

 

[Twayne]

In

FWIW, my ISP is Verizon too and from time to time I'll
try to access a website and it will just sit there
spinning. It spins because it can't connect. Resetting
the DSL modem fixes it. Reset either by turning off the
modem for 10-15 seconds or rebooting the computer.

That's not "resetting", it's re-syncing. To Reeset is a lot
different.



Not meaning to start any arguement here. As I see it:
How does rebooting the computer have anything to do with the
router?

The computer doesn't do anything but tell the router "Hey, I"m
here" so the router will lsiten for more commands from the
computer. Turning off the computer means nothing to the router
except to say it's there. I routinely turn my computer off to
watch Netflix, because I won't be in front of the computer.
Netflix comes in thru my DSL connection to the router and then
wireless to the ROKU box which talks back to NetFlix (or whatever
I'm watching) va the router to get and play the movies, shows,
etc.. My gateway router is a lowly Westell 327W, BTW.

It would seem the problem would EITHER be the router/gateway OR
the computer, not both, if a 'net connection can't be made.
REsetting the router by pressing the reset button also deletes
passwords, any port forward, etc.; back to factory defaults.
Powering it off does not do that.
For most, turning off the router does not reset the router. It
merely does gets fresh connections which, if they are corrupted,
might straighten out during the DSL re-sync.

I don't have a LOT of experience with routers and gateways, but
enough to feel dangerous. I'm more than willing to listen to new
information if you'd like to elucidate.

Regards,

Twayne

 

[magineer02]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:











Symptoms of DNS. Too bad you didn't test for it.



Don't worry. The problem will come back.



Paul

If you let me know how to do a DNS test and 'if' the problem comes back I will test for it.
It may or may not be a DNS issue; however, it is my opinion that Verizon was the culprit. So unless I have further problems this will end this thread and I want to thank everyone who has offered help.

If I have further issues I will start a new post
Robert

 

[Twayne]

In

If you let me know how to do a DNS test and 'if' the
problem comes back I will test for it.
It may or may not be a DNS issue; however, it is my
opinion that Verizon was the culprit. So unless I have
further problems this will end this thread and I want to
thank everyone who has offered help.

If I have further issues I will start a new post
Robert

I just got off the phone from my hour+ conversaton with Verizon,
and the "super-tech" I'd been put in touch with was tryinig to
defent somethng else when he told me that they had a LOT of
complaints about connection problems, password problems, etc.
etc. on their servers. I probably shouldn't bash them, but ... if
your problem is only with Verizon, it's not a DHCP issue.

Their IT department must be really grubby to not be able to fiix
that sort of thing. They're designed to use IE8, but I go farther
(without any cigar) using the non-approved FireFox to access
them.
My problem iis now being escalated to Engineering, though I
don't see how that can help anything since it's now apparent
their real problems are with their servers.

Don't let them sh_t you; the problems are at THEIR end! I told
them if they don't have a solution for me by next Tuesday I'm
leaving them. And I will do so: I've caught them in too many lies
over 4 very long, fruitless phone calls, too many lies. Oh, and
did I tell you they promised a phone call withing 24 hours THREE
times and never made a single one of them? I'm disabled and at
home 24/7 so ... I was here.

I probably will really leave Verizon next week, after nearly a
decade with them; I am missing inexcusable thiings, including my
Verizon e-mails. Interestingly enough, FireFox lets me read my
Webmail, but only FF, but I can NOT pop any mails to my computer
as I do with all others. Webmail is just too time consuming to
use.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[westom]

Some pages like Yahoo come right up while most others don’t load
at all or are very slow to load such as this Google page.

Yahoo page may already be inside your computer. So it will load up without going to the internet - instantly.

I can instantly think of maybe 20 different reasons for you slowness. Trying to fix something on 'it could be this or that' is wild speculation.

Verizon has a speed test. Scanning through most posts, I did not see even one recommendation to perform that test. Numbers are always critical to solve a problem fast and the first time. Possible URL is:
http://my.verizon.com/micro/speedtest/broadband

Long before suspecting anything, first confirm your raw data rates are whatyou are paying for. Verizon is a least likely suspect.

Numerous reasons can explain 'slowness'. Best way to solve a problem is to not yet even try to solve it. First, define the problem. Fixing comes much later. Essential are numbers from the Verizon speed test. And other simple facts.

For example, your computer has a Task Manager. Is any task consuming excessive CPU time? Task Manager is found by starting with Cntrl-Alt-Del. Orby going to Start> Help and Support option. Enter Task Manager so that Help and Support can show you where it is.

Task Manager can also report other critically important facts such as Memory Delta or Page Fault Delta. If necessary, enable them in Task Manager using the Viewn>Set Columns option.

You have no reason to suspect the router, modem, Verizon, memory, malware, excessive interrupts (ie from a USB device), a failing disk drive, DNS, or eight times more suspects. Currently the list of suspects is that long. Any could cause your slowness. Solution starts by first getting symptoms that define the problem. By not changing anything.

For example, did you examine problem messages in the Event (system) log? Windows routinely works around failures. Then stores anomaly messaged in that log to be discovered later. Slowness may be Windows working around a software or hardware defect.

Did you try executing ping (from Command Prompt) to some web site while and while not accessing a 'slow' site? The ping command is PING -t xxxx where xxxx is the URL or IP address of that web site. Note the time for each ping. What do those numbers report both before and when accessing a slow site with a browser?

Again, symptom that could describe maybe 15 different defects. But that is well down from a possible 50.

Best way to fix a problem is to not try to fix it. Instead, only and first try to identify the defect. Above are some examples of how to collect facts so that you or someone who knows even more will eventually cite one or only a few possible defects.

 

[Chris S.]

In

I just got off the phone from my hour+ conversaton with Verizon, and the
"super-tech" I'd been put in touch with was tryinig to defent somethng
else when he told me that they had a LOT of complaints about connection
problems, password problems, etc. etc. on their servers. I probably
shouldn't bash them, but ... if your problem is only with Verizon, it's
not a DHCP issue.

Their IT department must be really grubby to not be able to fiix that sort
of thing. They're designed to use IE8, but I go farther (without any
cigar) using the non-approved FireFox to access them.
My problem iis now being escalated to Engineering, though I don't see
how that can help anything since it's now apparent their real problems are
with their servers.

Don't let them sh_t you; the problems are at THEIR end! I told them if
they don't have a solution for me by next Tuesday I'm leaving them. And I
will do so: I've caught them in too many lies over 4 very long, fruitless
phone calls, too many lies. Oh, and did I tell you they promised a phone
call withing 24 hours THREE times and never made a single one of them? I'm
disabled and at home 24/7 so ... I was here.

I probably will really leave Verizon next week, after nearly a decade with
them; I am missing inexcusable thiings, including my Verizon e-mails.
Interestingly enough, FireFox lets me read my Webmail, but only FF, but I
can NOT pop any mails to my computer as I do with all others. Webmail is
just too time consuming to use.

HTH,

Twayne`

FiOS or ADSL?

Chris

 

[Twayne]

....

FiOS or ADSL?

Chris

ADSL; no FIOS available here yet.

 

[Twayne]

In

Use the following Public DNS servers
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
4.2.2.1
4.2.2.3

Can;t hurt to try those, but I don't think that's the problem
since some other sites are normally fast, I believe he said. II
can't help wondering about the backbone issue and that's why I
ran the tracert and displayed my own results.

Sure hope we hear about the resolution for this one.

HTH,

Twayne`