Another Day With My PC

I guess it’s safe to say that all of us have already experienced some sort of connection problem. If you still haven’t, then you either have an ISP that’s made in heaven or you don’t have one at all.

In case your browser doesn’t transport you to your homepage, or to any Web site, then you’re most likely having a connection problem. The first thing that you have to check is if all the lights on your modem are turned on. If it isn’t, then the solution lies with your ISP’s customer service hotline. If they’re all lit up, then the answer to your problem might just be a few mouse clicks away.

The most common solution to network or connection dilemmas is by right-clicking on the network icon located in the system tray. Select Repair and wait for a few seconds. Normally this should do the trick. However, in case Windows cannot automatically give you a new IP address so that you could connect to the Internet, you have to do it the old fashioned way. And when I say old, I mean DOS old.

Go to the command prompt and type ipconfig/release. This discards your old IP address. After a few seconds, you should see zeroes in the IP address and subnet mask. Type ipconfic/renew. A new IP address would then be issued to your system. Check if you’re connection is already up and running by trying to access any Web site.

Before you attribute slow browsing to a virus or spyware, there are a couple of things that you have to consider first. It’s very easy to blame it all on malware. However, you might be wasting your time scanning your entire hard drive for something that may not even be there.

Your ISP may claim that it’s making a 1mbps room for you, but more often than not, their claims are not exactly a hundred percent true or accurate. There are a number of reasons why this is so. First, your ISP may actually be cheating on you. Second, your DSL cable or modem may not be of a good kind. Third, your PC or software may already be obsolete and cannot recognize the new innovations that your ISP is using in providing you with high speed Internet access.

There are many tools or software that you could easily download on the Internet in order to determine the actual bandwidth that you’re receiving from your ISP. Check www.cnet.com for one.

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