Why is Cable running slow on me?

Hey, I had DSL before on this computer, and it was reallllllllyyy slow, but when i called customer support they said all the tests they ran on their side of the line were fine, so i get cable, and its faster, but when i download stuff they seem to slow down, and sometimes freeze toward the middle or end. My pc's hardware shouldn't be the cause because my hardware specs are more than the recommended requirements for cable. I'm suspecting that the problem could either be the on-board ethernet port, or an OS configuration. Are there any major software or OS configurations I could be running on my computer that has it working like this?

I have a 1.83GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, Windows XP Home, Mozilla Firefox

I didn't have to install any software for the modem or anything, I just plug the cable and I am connected.

Any help would be very helpful, thank you.

It is possible that you are infected with some worm that consumes network resources. You could make a quick "netstat -n" to see if there is an abnormal number of connections, but to be sure you had better make a full system scan with a qualified antivirus such as norton or kaspersky.

Yes i also agree. best advice i can give is never get cable before first having a firewall or antivirus in place on your computer. you will be infected within minutes of connecting, guarenteed.

Hope this helps.

First switch off any system restore you have enabled on the system.

Next download the free "adware" program from www.lavasoft.de/ . this will clear the computer of any spyware.

Get viruses removed. www.grisoft.com offers a free and effective virus checker.

You should then see an improvement after a full windows update.

To stop the problem happening again install a firewall (zonealarm) and pop up blocker (google toolbar).. then kick IE into touch and use mozilla firefox as your new browser.

good luck amigo!

I am a broadband installer and another site I go to is
www.speedguide.net
go about halfway down the page and look on the left hand side for TCP Analyzer. Click on it and it will read your settings. About halfway down the new page of your settings is the Bandwidth Delay Product. There should be only 2 lines and both should be above 4000. If not, right where you saw the TCP Analyzeris the TCP Optimizer which is a free download. Download this to the desktop and run it. Select your adapter that your broadband is connected to and then select OPTIMAL setting. Select APPLY and it will ask to reboot. Do so and go back to speedguide to see that it changed the settings. Most of the time this will greatly improve the speed as well as doing what was mentioned in the previous reply.

Good luck my friend!