Slow, slow, slow.....

[Nifty-Chicken]

Quote:

I also have a 40 year old pickup truck. It isn't pretty, but it is easy to fix if it breaks and doesn't require a tow to the dealer.

Try fitting 120,000 people in your truck, driving it down the highway at 70 MPH, and keeping all of the passengers happy at the same time.

We know there are problems with the site and that we can't accommodate all people all the time, but we're working hard and doing the best we can.

 

[wilbilt]

Try fitting 120,000 people in your truck, driving it down the highway at 70 MPH, and keeping all of the passengers happy at the same time.

We know there are problems with the site and that we can't accommodate all people all the time, but we're working hard and doing the best we can.

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers (LOL). The site is a great resource, but a bit overwhelming for my old machine. I have the same issue at work, supporting 1,000 or so student workstations of varying ages. Much of the instructional content has become web-based and the older machines can't access it due to java, flash or browser/OS limitations. My employer can't afford to buy 1,000+ new machines, so we do the best we can.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

No worries, I was just having fun with the truck analogy.

My computer is about as old as yours (6 years) but is an Intel / PC based machine. I'm running the newer versions of Chrome and FF on it without any problems. From my experience the newer browsers should still function ok even in older machines... but of course there are a million variables at play.

 

[seminolewind]

BTW, Nifty I love the new picture!

I have noticed more and more lately that my good ole cable company slows down at certain times of the day. They claim that the difference between putting out 56 Mbps and maybe 100 mbps cannot be noticed. That's not true. I know exacty when they have their slow downs. Maybe too many people are on the internet cable service at one time, or sneaky ways of getting me to think of upgrading my service ($$$).

When you have a slow down here, check the speed of your internet cable service. Left click on the bars that show your signal strength, (usually at the right bottom corner), then right click on your service or modum name, it should then show "status" as a choice. Left click on that and it should tell you how fast your signal is. I find that anything below 80 Mbps is real slow on mine. And 9 times out of 10, it's the cable service.

I also find my computer is slower as it gets older because of all the baggage it carries with it. When a computer is new, it's like carrying a small purse with it everywhere it goes. As a computer gets older, it gets to where it's carrying a large suitcase with it, or a heavy trunk. That slows it down.

With this new forum, a computer " carrying a purse or a smaller suitcase" would barely show a noticeable speed difference. But as a computer gets older and accumulates more "stuff", the speed difference gets more and more noticeable.

This is just some of the things that happens to me. My pc is 3 months old, and my last one was 4 years old. They were both loaded with tons of speed stuff. I still get these awful slow downs. It's not my computer. Most times it's the speed that my internet service provider is giving me.

 

[Judy]

Wow, seminolewind, that's interesting. Mine is now 54 mbps (around 6 PM) and I wouldn't call it slow -- maybe my expectations aren't high. It seems to take BYC 3-4 seconds to load when I've just opened the browser, and I think that's my longest wait. I'll be checking it at other times of the day, now, just to see. My PC is about a year old.

 

[seminolewind]

I don't know , Judy. I get an awful slow down almost every night for a while. I check my speed and it is all over the place, like changes every 10-20 seconds, but numbers below 100. But when it's down to 54, it's really really slow. Even at work on their wi fi, they slow it down at night, and their computers are so slow it's pathetic. And the speed is usually 54 or less.

Maybe it depends on the service, I don't know. I gotta continue to watch this.

 

[Symphony]

Just switched to firefox, now it's really fast! Perhaps others can?

 

[wilbilt]

I don't know , Judy. I get an awful slow down almost every night for a while. I check my speed and it is all over the place, like changes every 10-20 seconds, but numbers below 100. But when it's down to 54, it's really really slow. Even at work on their wi fi, they slow it down at night, and their computers are so slow it's pathetic. And the speed is usually 54 or less.

Maybe it depends on the service, I don't know. I gotta continue to watch this.

54Mbps is great speed for a home internet connection. I can only dream. No cable available here. I have a 6Mbps DSL connection, and lucky to have that. That is not the issue in my case, though. I use this machine at work every day, where we have Gigabit (1000Mbps) to the desktop and it makes no difference. It is due to the enhanced content on the site and the protocols used to deliver them.

My older browsers have a hard time dealing with it. I can't upgrade the browsers due to hardware limitations, and am using the newest versions available for this platform. It will only get worse as time goes by and more enhanced and interactive content appears on websites. I guess I am old school, but prefer things simple and uncluttered. I used to build websites by manually typing tags in a text editor, but that was15 years ago. A lot has changed since then.

 

[Judy]

This is DSL through the local phone company. I am rural; TV is satellite only. When I moved here about 5 years ago, they were just making DSL available on this street. I believe they must have a lot of competition from cell phones because they have done things like given me free long distance (in the US) and I believe upgraded my DSL speed one notch for free. It's still 54mbps this morning.

 

[greenSearcher]

My biggest complaint about the new BYC is losing your post before you are done. It just wiped mine again(5x), and this is a long response.

As I was saying, for those of us with older systems, your term of baggage is not really clear, but it is an important concept. I will try and flesh it out so those peeps w/ performance problems can perhaps find relief. I hope my analogy doesn't sound too silly, but I think it will help folks picture what is going on. My computer is an 4 year old desktop w/ dual processor, 2Gigs of RAM more HD than I will ever use. I run FireFox 11 for my browser (still have IE but rarely open it) and my productivity programs are Open Office, I deleted all MS Office programs once I found OO met all my needs. My operating system is Window XP 2000, that is automatically updated.

For those of us on older systems it is critical that we maintain a balance in our memory storage/usage; updated our programs and Do Housekeeping. Each of these areas keep our systems up to speed.

In the Memory aspect, the relationship of the RAM to the HD is like a kitchen counter to the pantry. The RAM is your work area and the HD is the storage area for your stuff. It is an easy and fairly inexpensive upgrade to add RAM as long as your Motherboard still has room for more or larger memory chips. This is like putting a table in the kitchen for more work room, providing there is space. Another aspect is virtual memory - the memory space allotted for moving data around. It can be adjusted to increase the size to allow more movement. That memory is rather like a hanging basket to hold the things your aren't using at the moment to give you more room on the counter. One adjustment that can be made is to set your virtual memory at about 3/4 capacity, the normal setting is far less. This setting is in the System folder, under the advanced tab. Google increase virtual memory for instructions. This should help prevent thrashing, which is when your computer is using all its resources to move data from RAM to HD to give your room to work. It is like having to put the spoon away to use the pan, to move it to whisk, to move it to crack an egg to move it.... see the hour glass yet?

Next to updating your programs, do it regularly. Most new systems come with the auto update enabled, but in the older machines it might need to be done. You can check that by clicking Start>Control Panel>System>Auto Update tab. Firefox will notify you when an update is available.

Then the old fashioned housekeeping tasks. Disc Clean up and Disc Defragmenter. The first is just what it says, is cleans up your hard drive freeing up space for better organization. Disc De frag rearranges the data to write it on the HD disc in continuous related files. The data that makes up the page of BYC you are using can be stored in the order it may be used or if your HD is fragmented it will be stored where ever there is room on the HD. Obviously the later storage takes longer to retrieve. Both these programs are found All Programs>Accessories>System tools> Disc cleaner or Disc Deframentor . The programs are best use, cleaner first then def rag second. If you haven't done this before it can take a long time, run it while something good is on TV or read a book. You may chose the files you wish cleared in the Disc Clean up, it will ask you before anything is deleted. Sometimes it can open up a couple 3 megs of memory even when done regularly. Then run the defragmentor. There is an Analyze button, and clicking it will tell you the percentage that is fragmented and whether it is needed or not. Rarely is it not needed. If your machine has never been defragged it is possible the process could take hours, have a good nights sleep. Very rarely it will not defrag because there is just not enough stable HD left. Time for a service call.

I have talked about a lot, but if you do this, you should see improvement in your performance, especially if your then download and start using FireFox. Do not remove IE, it can cause problems as it shares lots of files with other windows functions.

One last thing to look at to improve performance is what other programs do you run when you visit BYC? My DH listens to Slacker the entire time he is on the computer, runs a highly graphical screen saver, which runs continuously even when it is hidden, weather bug and I don't know what else. He also has 4 gigs of RAM. This type of behavior is like wearing ankle weights to grocery shop, You can do it, but is it worth the effort?

Sorry to the length, but I hope it helps
Julie