When i turn my pc on my net speed drops!

[Psycoprince]

Hi all

new to these forums as ive had this problem for a while and have never been able to sort it. basically i have an 8 meg broadband speed throught sky broadband, when i use my phone or xbox or even other laptops...all at the same time..the speed is absolutely fine..as soon as i turn my pc on my 8 meg speed suddenly drops to around 300kbs...it doesnt seem to happen all the time ive currently had a couple months where its been absolutely fine but now its starting up again, ive got MSE as my anti virus and it cant seem to find any viruses ive cleaned my caches and all sorts and wondered if maybe u guys have any ideas.

much appreciated

jason

 

[Ketchup]

When you turn on the PC does everything drop or just the desktop?

Have you tried plugging the PC into a different port on your router?

Have you tried a different ethernet cable?

 

[Elixer]

Sounds like updates are going on in the background.

 

[Harvey]

You may want to check for malware. If something bit your machine, it's possible it was infected, as well.

MS Essentials has always struck me as a bit weak compared to some of the better free anti-malware products. My personal preferences are the free versions of Avast Anti-Virus, SuperAntispyware and Comodo Firewall (not their entire security suite, which could conflict with Avast).

As with any such product, be careful not to accept offers for addirional browsers or other offers.

There are specific settings within each that will minimize the nag factor. For example:

Avast's new version 8 checks for updates on all of your other software. If you are diligent about updating your machine, you may want to turn off that feature. I know I wouldn't want any program to remind me to update software with history of known problems, such as Java, without having the option to check out the updates before allowing them to be installed.

With the Comodo Firewall, when you start the installation, choose the Custom option, and uncheck Comodo Dragon (yet another browser) and "Geek Buddy," an online help system that I believe they charge for if you use it (but I'm not sure).

SuperAntispyware has an extremely cool setting where, after you run your first complete scan (which can take awhile), you can set it to do the same in depth scan only for files that have changed within a recent time (default is 30 days). With that, I can run a deep scan my entire system in under 10 minutes. 😎

Warning - If your machine stalls, crashes or otherwise won't allow you to install new, known good anti-malware software, your machine is probably infected. If so, it's probably easier to save your files and re-install Windows.

Hope that helps. 🙂

 

[Psycoprince]

When you turn on the PC does everything drop or just the desktop?

Have you tried plugging the PC into a different port on your router?

Have you tried a different ethernet cable?

yes everything drops nothing can really be used once pc is on, yes it used to be hardwired then i changed it to wireless and still the same issue altho not for a good few months since i swapped them.

 

[Ketchup]

yes everything drops nothing can really be used once pc is on, yes it used to be hardwired then i changed it to wireless and still the same issue altho not for a good few months since i swapped them.

I'm inclined to guess it's Malware, as Harvey suggested.

 

[Psycoprince]

well thanks guys!, ive installed superantispyware and does a full clean and it seems to have gotten rid of a lot of threats, dont think i seen anything harmful but could have been affecting net. everything seems to be working at the moment but as i say its intermittent, So well see how it goes

Thanks for all the quick replies guys! much appreciated

 

[Harvey]

well thanks guys!, ive installed superantispyware and does a full clean and it seems to have gotten rid of a lot of threats, dont think i seen anything harmful but could have been affecting net. everything seems to be working at the moment but as i say its intermittent, So well see how it goes

Thanks for all the quick replies guys! much appreciated

That suggests you're on the right track. I would still install a better AV than MS Essentials. Avast (and other better AV software) allows you to run a "boot time scan." This is a scan that requires rebooting your machine and runs before Windows is loaded. That allows it to get "under the hood" and scan with much deeper access to the drive than Windows would allow.

Before you do that, turn off Windows Restore Points and, if necessary, set the maximmum amount of disk space to zero, and reboot. That will remove any malware that may be hiding in your restore points.

Then, run the boot time scan, per above.

After the boot time scan, turn System Restore back on with the normal settings.

As a final precaution, re-run a full scan with SuperAntispyware because the AV boot time scan may unmask further spyware that SAS can now find.

 

[Enigma102083]

Also get the Kaspersky Rescue Disk, boot from it and run a update/scan.

 

[Ketchup]

Your first post indicates that you have had this issue for quite a while, which means that the Malware has had plenty of time to spread and invite its friends. Make sure you do plenty of cleaning to ensure you get them all, as mentioned above. There are many out there which can be a security risk, and not just a nuisance. If you have a good backup of everything, you could also consider a fresh install instead of running a lot of virus/spyware scans.