Question for you computer geeks, please.

GoodToGo,
It's a little too early to say for sure, but I think you may be my new hero! I just deleted all my temporary internet files, and it certainly seems to be running faster. I will report back a little later in the day after I see if it stays faster. Thank you very much!

Took a long time for the above to post, and I had to click refresh to get back to it so I could add this edit.

The above edit posted at lightning speed. Go figure.

What would happen if I delete all cookies, too?

Not the chocolate chip ones!!:-o

Juanita, I'm told you're supposed to delete them - nothing bad happens (says one "expert" to another LOL!)

I did a little research after I posted the last question about the cookies. I think you just have to log in all over again to all your usual sites. I seem to remember deleting all cookies a few years back, on my old computer, and being really sorry. I don't remember why.

I'm getting more and more convinced the problem is with Choice. Sometimes it's like watching grass grow, and sometimes it's pretty quick. If the problem was my computer, I would think it would always be slow....right?

Juanita................I would not delete the cookies as they contain log-in information for your favorite websites (like this one)....something you can do is: from the start menu go to "my computer" and right click on "C", then click on "properties", click "disk cleanup", then when a window comes up that says "disk cleanup for OS(c)" check all the little boxes (this will not do anything negative to your computer), the window will tell you how much space you will gain, now click "OK", another box will ask you if you want to permanently delete these files, click "delete files". This will help speed up somewhat.

I know you said that you defragged but did you also tell it to check for errors? Sometimes that helps also. Don't know if you use the "google web accelerator".....it helps a little for sites that you use often!

If you get crap cleaner from ccleaner.com (free) you can save the places where you have all your log-in info such as here & clear the cookies without having to remember what your passwords are. Before running it, you just select for example "www.vimovingcenter.com" in the list you'll see & move it to the right. You'll remain logged in here. You can do the same for other sites requiring passwords. I probably explained that badly but it's not necessary to lose all your user passwords.

Now I'm really confused. I always choose the box that says "delete cookies" and it hasn't effected anything.

I always delete cookies, cache, and history every time I close my browser. I use Firefox as my browser. Ditched internet Explorer years ago. I never have spyware or other issues. Never. I am inconvenienced a little because I delete the cookies. That means I have to sign in to any website that requires a log in. Firefox works great and it is free.

Thanks all. This is great. I have lots of new things to consider and try.

Trade, How long have you had ccleaner? While reading through their info I remembered that a few years ago I bought WinCleaner at Office Max. I think that is the same thing. It helped my old computer, so I am going to hunt through boxes and see if I can find it.

Sabrina, UVI offers a computer course that I would love to take. Unfortunately they don't offer it on STX, only STT, and it's expensive, $795, but it's soup to nuts about computers. They told me maybe one day on STX.

All of you entrepreneurs, who happen to be computer qualified, maybe there is a business opportunity out there!

Thanks again for all the responses.

*vouches heartily for firefox; in fact, using it now!!!*

Glad to hear you're making progress!!!

Regarding cookies you've got some good responses. I will add that if you are like me you may have one or two basic passwords with variations in which case deleting all of your cookies from time-to-time is a good thing. There are some cookies which are benign and only contain information like your login or preferences related to a website. Others are of the tracking variety and they can monitor and log every website you go to and report back to the originator (some for purposes such as marketing some for much more malicious means.) It is very easy to accumulate dozens of these tracking cookies and they will degrade system performance over time.

GoodToGo, thank you so much for your explanation on cookies. Most of my advice I get from two friends, one speaks Romanian and the other one French. I just didn't have a clue what either of them was trying to tell me!

Juanita, I promise myself every few months that I'm going to take a computer course, but I keep procrastinating. Now that the season is over I don't know what my new excuse is going to be!

I've had Crap Cleaner for years.

http://www.ccleaner.com/update/

Thanks Trade. I'm a little paranoid about what I download, so just wanted to make sure it wasn't something new. I'll give it a go.

I also have Identity Theft. It's a little piece of hardware that stores all your passwords, account numbers, etc., so you can easily log in without remembering all your info. I have had it for a while, but have not used it yet. I think it's time to load everything into it and then I can delete cookies, without worrying about missing something.

Now, if it would just rain. I would feel better about sitting at the computer all morning!:)

Where do you get Identity Theft? Is it free?

Trade, Identity Theft isn't free. It's an actual "gadget", and , my mistake, it's really named Identity Vault or ID Vault. I bought if from QVC about six months ago, but I am such a computer novice, and I just haven't taken the time to read through it and figure out what to do.

I got side-tracked this morning, so nothing new to report.

Oh, ok. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Here's the update. I ran WinCleaner (I'm pretty sure that's about the same as crap cleaner.) It cleaned up a bunch of stuff including deleting all but selected cookies. So, I should be screaming along....not! I got excited because at first it seemed to be faster, but about 5 click into it, it started slowing down. So, I connected to my neighbor's unsecured wireless and have been surfing around for about an hour now. It's faster than it's been in a long, long time. Also, I watched some video, which usually drags along (don't know the real term, but when the voices and motions are choppy and stop and go). It started right up and ran at real time speed.

So, basically, it's obviously a Choice problem, but now my system is all cleaned up, so if Choice gets their act together soon, I should be in good shape for a while. If not, I'll definitely be changing my service provider.

I really do appreciate all the help and suggestions. I learned a lot during this process. Thank you all so much!:)

Hi Juanita,

That was a good diagnostic approach. I know you said that you have a cable connection, but I can't tell if the cable eventually goes to a dish on your property, or just runs all the way back to Choice headquarters.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you proceed with Choice:
- the problem still might be the hardware in your computer... specifically your ethernet cable port circuit in your computer. The internet provider will not fix this. But, you can check this by taking your computer to someone else's house and connecting your computer to their cable. If the problem persists then the problem is something in your computer.

- the problem might be the cable modem (my suspicions lie here here, but unproven). Your symptoms match one of the ways these modems fail... they just get flaky, they don't quit completely... the more they work, the more they heat up (inside), and the heat causes them to stop working properly (you see a slow down). If you know someone that has the same service as you have you can swap cable modems with them (no set up should be needed, just swap the boxes). If your connection is then good, then it points to a bad box. If they try your box and their connection is slow then it's the final smoking gun in this case... it's that box.

- the problem might be a cable. Either the ethernet cable from computer to cable modem, or coax cable from cable modem to Choice (dish or ground). Ethernet cables are cheap, so you can swap this out (not sure this would be a Choice problem, but it's so cheap they'd swap it anyway). The coax cable is slightly more complicated and requires a few more questions, because this cable runs from inside your house to outside your house (and then I don't know if it runs to a dish or in the ground). If your problems are present one day and not the next, then the problem might be a cut/slash/nick in the cable somewhere outside that lets water (from rain or hose) into the cable. When Choice comes out, your internet problem might not be showing itself. See if you can remember if the problem is more evident after a rain, and/or if you have worked in the yard, around the cable and could have possibly whacked it with shovel or other tools.

Anyway, I'm hoping a simple cable modem problem, and they'll have your internet connection screaming along in no time...

EngRMP,
What I have is called Clear Choice. I have a modem that plugs into an electric outlet, another wire from the modem plugs into my computer, just a wire, not a cable. Looks like a phone jack connection. That's it. It's kind of like "semi-wireless". I can take it with me anywhere. As long as I have electricity and a line of sight to a Choice tower, it works. I move in around from room to room. I even take it over to St. Thomas when I go over there, and it works great. It's about the size of one of those large print paperbacks. I paid $99 for the modem and $49 a month for the service. I HAD been very happy with it until a few weeks ago.

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I will just take the whole thing into Choice and let them test it and check the wires, etc. Good advice!

Took my modem to Choice and asked them to check it out. They said I had a bad wire, charged me 20 bucks to replace it and assured me my problems were over, high speed ...here I come. Can you tell by the tone of this post where I'm going? Still slower than molasses! I will give them a little time to get the new equipment Sabrina's contact mentioned, but soon I will be shopping. Any good suggestions? I am in Estate St. John on STX. Not sure what all the options are, but I definitely don't want to be "hard-wired" into one location for my computer. ATT and Sprint phones don't work too well here, so I don't think one of their cards is a good option.

EngRMP, I was really hoping you were onto it, but alas, it's back to hijacking my neighbor's wireless. If I knew which neighbor, I could ask which company. Is there some way to tell?

Juanita, I don't know if this reflects your situation, but I also use Choice's wireless DSL.

My speed is S - L - O - W.

Did some online speed tests. Terrible. Called Choice. Was told that they have different $$ plans for different speeds; the $49/mo plan is for the slowest speed connection (marginally faster than dial-up). Upgraded to the somewhat faster $99/mo plan (they have an even more expensive option). Faster, yes, but painfully expensive for a connection that is slow by DSL standards.

When I first signed up, Choice's wireless was my only option in my location. Since then, Innovative's DSL has become available. Faster and less expensive, but as often as my phone line is dead I can't bring myself to change (in fact, my phone is out right now). It would suck to be without both phone AND internet.

To recap, I'm using Choice's $99/mo plan. Here is a speed test I just did (speedtest.net connecting to the NY server):

download speed: 344 kb/s (this is the fastest I've ever seen it; woohoo!)
upload speed: 65 kb/s

Sometimes when I do a speed test my pitiful upload speed is faster than the download speed!

From that same website (speedtest.net) I looked up stats for VI internet providers. I do not know if this data is provided by the companies or if it is generated by VI residents testing their speeds on this site. The results do not indicate which "plan" the data is for. Obviously, in the case of Choice Communications it must be a better plan than the one I have. Anyway, those stats:

"Top internet Service Providers by Download Speed"-- US Virgin Islands
VIPowernet: 1806 kb/s
Choice Communications: 1424 kb/s
AT&T WorldNet Services: 421 kb/s

On the plus side, my internet connection doesn't go down that often. My electricity, however, does-- there goes the internet connection. BTW, I live on the north side of STT and my internet signal comes from a tower on STJ! I usually have 4 or all 5 signal strength lights.

Sure wish that Ackley or someone would put a tower on the downisland side of Peterborg. It would also be nice to have cable modem as an option.

While I'm complaining, let me beef about Innovative. My phone goes out often (particularly in the summer, for some reason). I've tried to use their website to report the outages (there's a submission page for that) but after submission I get an email that says it was undeliverable. No one answers their phone after business hours. Another example of how lack of competition hurts consumers.

Juanita,

I just had another thought:
- is it possible that your Clear Choice worked for a while and then recently became slow (I think this is what you reported in your original post)?
- if so, is it possible that at the same time that your internet slow down started, you might have "enabled" the wireless internet in your laptop?
- what I'm wondering is if the wireless transmitter in your laptop can interfere with your Clear Choice box. Can you "disable" your wireless (not the Clear Choice) and see if that fixes the slow down problem?

i use broadband.vi and it's fine, to keep my laptop clean i use spybot and ad aware,i use cookie jar,i use eusing registry cleaner, i also use diskclean,and avg and auslogig disc defrag,avg updates and scans everyday,hp also scans and windows does auto updates