Why is my browser slow

Why is my browser slow.  Browsers have become the essential connection to the internet.  There are many browsers available including : Google Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer (IE) for various devices.  Browsers take up HUGE amounts of CPU, and MEMORY, when running, this is the reason why, the browser experience can get frustrating and slow.

Solutions :

Solution 1. See “Why is my computer slow”.

Solution 2. Close down unnecessary pages, especially video pages.  Even-though you may not be using the page, information and data may be being processed in the background.  So only open pages when needed.

Solution 3. Browsers are notorious for threading and memory leakage, if you keep browsing and add extra tabs or windows the computer may grind to a halt.  So try to minimise opening tabs and new windows.

Solution 4. Check the network connection.  If you can browse and webpage like www.google.com very fast and another very slow, then the problem could be the website you are connecting to.  Check other sites out to compare loading times.

Solution 5. Turn off unnecessary functions (plugins, addons, extensions) or functionality like javascript or images, BUT, this may render the webpage unreadable or unusable.

Solution 6. Reduce the screen resolution, this may make the page look ugly, but the lower resolution may make the page load faster.

Solution 7. Get a web page accelerator.  This may reduce download times as some data or resources could be cached (files or data saved for later retrieval) to reduce the reloading of the page.

Solution 8. Downloading of software can bring down browsing speeds.  This is due to the connection being shared.  The download may take over 60% of the connection, which leaves only 40% or less for browsing.  Which is less than half the browsing speed.

Solution 9.  Check the network connection you get from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) by using speed testing software www.speedtest.net.  WARNING, use these speed tests with caution, they are not accurate and can give unpredictable results due to bandwidth, caching, latency, network load.  Do at least 10 tests to get an average of the up and download speed.  If your speed is un-exceptable look for another ISP, or check your LAN or wireless connection.

Solution 10. Modern browser now have developer and profiling tools to allow users to check where the browser speed is failing.   Recording profiles for a websites shows what resources have been downloaded, and how long resources take to load completely.

Solution 11. Due to the worry about viruses, many users use virus checkers.  This is a good and bad thing, regarding surfing the web.  The good : protects you, bad : constant checks slows browser speed down considerably.  What is the compromise?  Switch off the virus checker and get viruses, or keep the virus checker on BUT only go to sites you KNOW are virus free.  Many are choosing the second option as the browsing experiencing can be very frustrating with constant checks.  With physhing sites, malware, trojans and worst of all rootkits, you have to be REALLY careful while surfing, if you turn off you virus checker.

Solution 12. Turing on the firewall may block harmful connections and allow allow valid connections in and our of your device.

Solution 13. To start getting really technical use software like HiJackThis and Housecall and Wireshark to see what is hurting your browsing experience.  Check latest virus threats using tools like Threat Watch app.  Cookies and monitoring software may have been installed on your device to send out valuable data, adverts, and information to remote sources for marketing, spying or malicious purposes to steel keys and passwords , payment details using key loggers. So BE CAREFUL. 70% fraud on the internet.

More Detail

Speedtest NET

HiJackThis and Housecall and Threat Watch app

Internet not available on wireless connection

Sometimes a wireless connection to the internet can stop working.

Solutions :

Solution 1. Check another website to ensure that it is not the website that has not gone down, not your wireless connection.  Check also the ipaddress of the website.

Solution 2. Check that the wireless icon on Windows, access point on Mac, wireless configuration on linux are active.   If not try restarting the router, or re-adjusting the wireless connection (stop and start).

Solution 3. If wireless connection is active, check the connection is using a valid DNS (Domain Name Service – used to convert ip addresses to domain names)

Solution 4. If wireless connection is not active, check that you are connecting to the correct wireless connection and using the correct wireless security and password.

Solution 5. Use ping to check if a you get a valid connection to the website.  e.g. ping www.google.com at the cmd prompt (command prompt).  On windows you can use tracert and traceroute on linux and mac to findout where the connection between you and the website fails, or is slow.

Solution 6. Use wireless detection software to ensure your signal is not being disrupted by interference.  Use software like inssider  to check other wireless connections and change the wireless channel to another frequency, which may improve performance, the standard wireless channels are 1,5, 11.  wireshark is excellent software to show TCP/UDP connections, BUT, can be hard to understand.

Solution 7. Check that you can connect to the internet without a firewall or antivirus software running.  If you can connect without this software running then you know that the firewall or antivirus software has to be disable or reconfigured to allow access to the internet.

Solution 8. DNS can have more than just 2 domain nameservers.  Extra nameservers can be added via TCPIP / DNS under windows, resolv.conf under linux, and network settings under Mac.   Extra DNS entries allow the internet to stay connected if a DNS is not responding correctly, an alternative DNS will be used.

Solution 9. Use ipconfig /all on windows.  ifconfig on linux and macosx.  These tools allow users to see clearly, what network card is binded to the wireless connection, if no connection, then no wireless.

Solution 10. Devices like Consoles (Wii, XBox, Playstation), Smartphones (iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia), can also connect wirelessly to the internet, switch off / on device, or change from airplane mode back to normal mode, or (if possible) manually enter your wireless connection into the device.   Wireless connections can clash with other devices on the same ipaddress (4 number combination e.g. 192.168.1.2) , to manually enter connection details you need to know the DNS settings, the IPaddress, security passphase (password), wireless security used (WPA, WPA2, WEP), SSID (Wireless Broadcast ID) and wireless channel (1, 5, 11 others can be problematic and have poor signal strength, default is 11).

More Detail

linuxhomenetworking - Simple_Network_Troubleshooting For Linux

Annoyances – Windows Networking

OSX Daily – Troubleshoot Wireless Problems On Your Mac

iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections

 

Why is my computer slow

Computer can go slow for various reasons, here are the most common fixes.

Solution : 

Solution 1. Not enough memory to run an application, get more memory installed.  Disable or stop running programs currently running, or that run automatically.

Solution 2. Identify slow program by opening the taskbar (process explorer or process monitor)  in Windows, or activity monitor in Mac, top (htop) on unix.   Order the process list by memory or by cpu to find the process, using the most memory or cpu time.  If possible kill the process by selecting the process and choosing end task Windows and Mac, or using ps -aux on linux to identify the process id and use kill -9 {process_id} e.g. kill -9 12345

Solution 3. Check if antivirus software is running on your machine.  By default the virus software is running automatically at startup, you can check this by using msconfig on Windows, activity monitor on Mac, or chkconfig on linux.  You can then disable the antivirus software.  Some antivirus software refuses to be uninstalled or stopped, so follow manufacturer instructions for removal of the software.

More Detail

Process Monitor and Process Explorer for Windows

Mac OS X – Reading System Memory Usage in Activity Monitor

Htop Examples for Linux

Blank laptop screen

Screen on your laptop appears blank or black, with no display.

Solutions:

Solution 1. Restart Laptop

Solution 2. Take out battery and power supply. Start laptop with power supply. Stop laptop. Restart laptop with battery.

Solution 3. Plug in external monitor, check screen, update display drivers using device manager. Restart Laptop.

Solution 4. Plug in external monitor, check screen, delete display drivers using device manager. Restart Laptop.

Solution 5. Buy a new screen.  Use instruction manual to dismantle keyboard and monitor screen.  Unscrew holders for screen.  Replace with new screen.  Replace screws and keyboard.  Restart laptop.