Noob with a few questions - testmy.net resource / tool

Battie

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Noob with a few questions

« on: October 05, 2005, 07:08:11 PM »

My first, very basic, question is about net speed. Often, even with all but the most necessary programs closed (in other words, the stuff Windows runs), I seem to have a download going with an average speed of dial-up (according to NetMeter). I'm guessing, hoping, this is quite normal on a cable hook-up. It is, isn't it?

Bah, I've 256k ("Actually higher," so the cable guy says) but all my tests put it below 200k. Which is why this question emerges. I ran the tweak test at broadbandreports.com and it came out fine.

Second, I got caught doing something naughty with BT. The catcher contacted my ISP. I was using Protowall, Blocklist Manager and SafePeer, but obviously they didn't work. Now, to be honest, I'm leery of doing anything bad with BT anymore. evil

But should I uh, forget myself, what is out there that could prevent a repeat of what happened? I've heard of routers, but for now, I'm cash-strapped. Not even really sure what a router does. icon_scratch

And third, what are the maintenance tasks I should perform to keep computer performance at its peak? I know to defragg, but glancing at the Administrative Tools forced me to groan and think, "Oh god, more computer crap to learn bit by bit." :whaa:


« Last Edit: October 05, 2005, 07:14:59 PM by Battie »	Logged

Swimmer

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Re: Noob with a few questions

« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2005, 08:16:14 PM »

Ok lets see here.. where to start..

Ok the first topic has to do with the download speeds.. It should be higher than dial-up.. If you are seeing 2.7Kbps-5.0Kbps then there is something wrong. Most servers are on faster lines these days and deliver much faster than the old 56k speeds to each person. I am not sure what you mean by an average.. if you are talking about surfing in general yes.. the average is going to be closer to 56k speeds.. cause of the burst speed. But for downloading you should be around 24Kbps..

For the next thing.. these test are more accurate than anything out there.. most of the time you are getting tested for your burst speed.. not constant speed.. which is what really matters.. it looks like you should be getting between 128k-348k. So if the cable guy says that you are getting higher.. then you might want to tweak the connection.

If you got caught doing something illegal on BT I wouldnt do anything anymore.. There are things that you can do.. but that isnt the point of this site.. (we keep it legal here)

A router takes your connection and turns it into a pipe that multiple users can use at one. Kinda like having a splitter on your cable tv to allow more tvs on cable. Each computer gets a unique Internal IP address and share an external IP... There is really no advantage to having a router if you are trying to hide yourself.. it is a tool that you can use to share your connection with other computers.

As far as maintenance.. i would make sure that you are clear of spyware, viruses, clear out the temp folder, you can take a look at this site.. blackviper.com and do some service customization... You can get a memory manager if you leave your computer on for long periods of time.. Cause windows sucks at memory managment..

BTW welcome to the forums! if ya have any other questions let us know!


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Battie

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Re: Noob with a few questions

« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2005, 07:03:14 AM »

Quote from: Swimmer on October 05, 2005, 08:16:14 PM

If you got caught doing something illegal on BT I wouldnt do anything anymore.. There are things that you can do.. but that isnt the point of this site.. (we keep it legal here)

As far as maintenance.. i would make sure that you are clear of spyware, viruses, clear out the temp folder, you can take a look at this site.. blackviper.com and do some service customization... You can get a memory manager if you leave your computer on for long periods of time.. Cause windows sucks at memory managment..

BTW welcome to the forums! if ya have any other questions let us know!

Well, as far as BT goes, I use it primarily for fansubs. Of all the media on my computer, 95% is unlicensed fansubs (well, not licensed in the US or weren't when I downloaded them). Heh, even if I wanted to amass a huge collection of illegal tv shows or movies, I don't have the hard drive space (or the money for CDs).

Monster alone takes up about 10 GBs of my measly 80, and will until I have more CDs to burn it to. And I'd already deleted the downloads before I was called by my ISP. >

But I still prefer companies, regardless of their intent or mine, be unable to monitor my activity. My computer is as much a part of my home as anything else. And the fact that Media Sentry is trying to access my computer when I'm doing nothing more than surf the net is...invasive and really ticking me off. > Neutral

I'm sure they'll find their way around my firewall and other programs, if they haven't already.

Thanks for the link.

And yes, Windows sucks REALLY BAD at memory management.


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pitbull481

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Mexicano Hasta La Madre :-)

Re: Noob with a few questions

« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2005, 08:48:07 AM »

Welcome to The Forum Battie hello


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