Troubleshooting Slow Internet: Possible Causes and Solutions

[Saint]

For the past 1 week till now, I found that internet is slow, nothing wrong with my PC hardware, and i had updated my norton virus definition. Is it due to Sobig.F ?

 

[russ_watters]

Yes, overall internet traffic has increased substantially (some areas worse than others) due to the handful of viruses/worms in the past two weeks. It should improve as they are defeated.

 

[Sunfist]

Right now the most prolific virus companies are doing an excellent job of attacking the SoBig. It shouldn't be too much longer before things are back to normal.

 

[Sourire]

It depends on the tpye of connection as to why the slowness. I do know (I work for norton virus removal) that sobig.f does not slow internet connection. Just make sure that you keep your defintions up to date and make sure everything stays enabled ie autoprotect and script blocking.

and yes we are working our bootie off to make sure we can help as many people who think they have it, and people who know they have it...lots of OT but I am thinking it will die down again soon :)

 

[russ_watters]

Originally posted by Sourire
I do know (I work for norton virus removal) that sobig.f does not slow internet connection

You misunderstand the problem. Blaster (worse than Sobig if I remember correctly - there were a handful of major viruses/worms in the past two weeks) doesn't slow YOUR connection to the internet, it slows the internet itself. It launched a denial of service attack on www.windowsupdate.com (see the bulletin there) from each computer it infected. It had a major impact on overall internet traffic and made patching the security flaw difficult. I personally had trouble updating my computers at work because of Blaster.

BTW, Norton AV is the name of the program. The company is called Symantec.

 

[Sourire]

Yes I did misunderstand the question thans for the clarification. A majority of the people that I talk to can't even get to the internet so...

and you are correct Norton is the name actually after Peter Norton but no one (at least our customers!)really knows that Symantec and Norton are one in the same...

Thanks again for the clarification!

 

[Lyuokdea]

although the Virus could be the problem, I don't think it necessarily must be, more information on what type of connection and computer you have would be helpful in determining what the problem is.

 

[Artman]

Sometimes clearing your cookies and temporary internet files can help bring back some speed. Be careful not to delete wanted cookies.

If you have cable, it could be that many other people have began using cable modems in your area, if you have DSL or dial-up perhaps you have some storm damage or interference to your phone line. Is your indicated connection speed the same as it was, or has that gone down? Perhaps the phone line, or cable (USB or Coaxial for cable modem) may have gone bad.

Just some possibilities. More information could help determine the problem.