Comments inline, Lee.
Daave - I went to the Cox link you provided and followed the
directions to tweak my computer.
The link I provided was for Broadband Reports, not Cox. What is your
current download speed? For now, based on what you wrote below, it is
not really the most pressing issue. But once you resolve the other
problem, you could always address your download speed.
I'll see if that helps. I'm not
comfortable switching from IE to another browser. Just not familiar
with them, and would prefer not to go that route.
If you're not going to try our suggestions, then I'm not sure how much
help you'll wind up getting! Off By One is a tiny, standalone browser;
it can even fit on a floppy. I'm sure it wouldn't cause any confusion
for you. Using another browser is a quick way to determine if your issue
is limited to IE or not. If it's limited to IE, then we know what needs
to be addressed next. If it's not, that's useful information, too.
I've crashed my
computer many times over the years by messing around trying this and
that, so now I'm nervous about hitting the wrong button, etc..
So schedule regular backups and make a periodic image of your hard
drive. This should make you more confident. If you hit a wrong button,
somehow causing catastrophic damage, you simply restore your hard drive
to where it was beforehand. Of course, you could always try System
Restore as well.
I've tried customer support for Cox. They keep sending me the same
email with the same suggestions; 'round and 'round we go with no
concrete help.
You should post those suggestions here. Perhaps you missed an important
step. If so, we could help.
I was even told that it was probably the wiring in my
apartment.
That's a possibility. Did they offer a method to determine if this is so
or not? Since you have cable broadband, are you able to try using
another cable outlet? What is your setup? Is there a router?
When I compare the computer I use at work and my home
computer, there is NO comparison. The one at work is lightening fast.
Mine at home, I enter hourglass hell.
What do you mean by "hourglass hell?" Is there an actual hourglass in
the center of your screen? Does this happen only when accessing
particular Web sites, or do you also get it while using other
applications? Are there any Web sites that cause no problems at all? If
so, please name them.
You asked what sites I am
having issues with -- I use online banking. Sometimes Bank of
America's website takes a long time to load. Or, Slate website. I
cannot access them at all. I contacted them several times, but no
reply ever came back. It's the same ole message about page cannot be
found, or some such thing.
This is where you need to provide accurate information. Is it only one
message each and every time? Is it "The Page Cannot Be Displayed"? Are
there other messages? Write it (or them) down exactly!
If it is "The Page Cannot Be Displayed," you should have a look at this
article:
Error message when you try to access a Web site in Internet Explorer:
"Page Cannot Be Displayed"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326155
As you can see, any number of reasons exist for this error. Print it
out. Follow the Guided Help, if possible. Your answer may involve any of
the following:
-- powering your modem off and on
-- verifying your firewall or modem settings
-- repairing damaged Winsock registry keys
-- resetting altered TCP/IP settings
-- fixing a problem with your Hosts file
You get the picture.
Again, please provide us with *as much* information as possible,
including:
-- which firewall you use
-- which antivirus program you use
-- which antispyware programs you use
-- size of your hard drive and amount of free space
-- Event Viewer messages
To answer your question about how do I
clean out the cache files; I hope that means temp files. I have gone
to 'start' and have entered *tmp and then deleted whatever was there.
Although it's good practice to delete *.tmp files, that's not what I was
referring to. I was referring to Temporary Internet files.
I have also gone through Control panel, Internet Options, and deleted
temp files from there.
That's it. When you do this make sure the "Delete all offline content"
box is checked.
I don't always trash the cookies as then it
seems I must collect them all again to access the normal pages I look
at everyday such as my homepage MSN, New York Post, Google news, etc.
At this point, I wouldn't worry too much about cookies unless you're
concerned with tracking cookies. But that could be addressed later.
I downloaded the 'google web accelerator' hoping it would help.
Totally unnecessary!
Sometimes it seems to and then other times I have to shut it off as
it apparently interferes with the downloading process.
You should uninstall the "accelerator." In fact, for all we know, that
may be the crux of your problem!
Sorry to be so long-winded here, but I do not know how to make this
more brief. I appreciate your kind attention in wanting to help.
Could I perhaps impose upon you to email my work computer stats vs.
my home computer stats and get your opinion?
I don't know what you mean. I don't have your computer stats. Post
whatever you want here and any number of people may provide feedback,
but we certainly won't send you private e-mails! One characteristic of
Usenet posts is that everybody gets to see them!
If the Microsoft page doesn't help, you may need to run a HijackThis
log. But we'll see.
Good luck!
