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Having your internet working is not something complicated but we know from experience that sometimes, for reasons we cannot control, our internet speed is slow.

It is very useful before going crazy to have a list you can check to know what exactly is happening.

As you will understand from every post I write, I don’t like formatting computers to solve problems, for me a problem is just an opportunity to learn about computers. So of course you can always format; however, this will not solve every problem.

Check your cables

As amazing as it could seem most internet problems are due to a badconnection between your computer and the router. Remember to first check if the cable is connected properly and the network card shows an intermittent light. In Windows 7 you will see the following icon appearing from time to time.

Bad Cable Connection

Update the network card drivers

Sometimes there is just a problem with your network card. Always use the latest drivers for your devices. Here is how to do this:

Press on Winkey + R, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter.

Run Device Manager

In Device Manager, right click Network adapters, and click Update Driver Software…

Update Network Driver Adapter

Windows will show you if the best driver for the device is already installed.

Check your DNS settings

Is a good practice to control if your DNS are working and configured. So how can we do this?

Press Winkey + R, type cmd and press Enter.

On the command window type ipconfig /all and press Enter, look for your DNS servers IP:

Ip Config All

In this example we have 80.25.23.2, 80.25.23.3. The IPs are not real.

To check if they are working use the nslookup command, here’s we how to do it with the first one:

Checking DNS

Here we see our DNS solving the www.mintywhite.com address. To correct the DNS, see this article.

Check if Your Computer has too Many Open Connections

Routers link in and out IP addresses. For this, they use a list that has a limited number of entries. To control this table they limit the connections that each device can make.

If you are in a local area network and some of them have internet, and others not, this is usually a related router problem.

For example: P2P  programs open a lot of connections so it is not strange that your experience internet problems.

To know how many connections your computer has opened, write netstat in a command window:

netstat

Using netstat -b shows us what program has established every connection:

netstat b

You need to run this program as administrator to not see the message “The request operation requires elevation”.

Unsinstall Malicious Software

No matter careful you are, many times you install a lot of undesired  programs. This comes with toolbars or something of the sort that can make your internet connection going crazy.

Of course you need to have an anti-spyware and an antivirus updated program.

If you want to see if a browser toolbar is the problem:

XP: Click Start and click All programs > Accessories > System Tools > Internet explorer (No Add-ons)

Vista/7: Click Start, type Internet, and click Internet explorer (No Add-ons)

Internet Explorer No Add Ons

Multiple Antivirus Programs Installed

There is nothing more harmful, not just for Internet that have multiple antivirus programs installed. It is easy to remember that you must uninstall antivirus before installing another, but what happens if something goes wrong when you are in the process of uninstalling one of these programs?

Don’t panic, you just have to find a tool that can uninstall the program:

  • Norton Uninstall Utility
  • Avast Uninstall Utility
  • AVG Uninstall Utility

Firewall Misconfiguration

A firewall is a useful tool but it can damage your internet browsing. I have worked lot of time with computers and one of the first check I do when Internet is not working is disabling the antivirus. I do that because current antivirus are becoming more and more complex and they usually have a firewall integrated.

One easy test you can do to check this, is using other browsers, as firewall applications usually block executables, using, for example, Chrome instead of Microsoft Explorer can solve your problem.

About Angel Luis

I am an Engineer of Telecommunications that love computers. My first computer was a Commodore 16kb, about 25 years ago and since then I am always fighting computers problems. Please visit my entries and ask me about whatever problem you have, I will be pleased to help you. My email is discoveryourpc [at] gmail [dot] com. You can follow me on twitter @agenlu or read my blog www.discoveryourpc.net

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Comments

17 thoughts on “7 Easy Tests To Check Your Internet Connection”

  1. srcfyd says:

    Under Unsinstall (sp) Malicious Software, the XP link should be (at least on my system it is)…

    XP: Click Start and click All programs > ACCESSORIES > System Tools > Internet explorer (No Add-ons)

  2. srcfyd says:

    Under Unsinstall (sp) Malicious Software, the XP link should be (at least on my system it is)…

    XP: Click Start and click All programs > ACCESSORIES > System Tools > Internet explorer (No Add-ons)

  3. srcfyd says:

    Under Unsinstall (sp) Malicious Software, the XP link should be (at least on my system it is)…

    XP: Click Start and click All programs > ACCESSORIES > System Tools > Internet explorer (No Add-ons)

  4. Rich says:

    Thank you! I’ve updated the guide.

  5. Rich says:

    Thank you! I’ve updated the guide.

  6. Rich says:

    Thank you! I’ve updated the guide.

  7. Angel Luis Sanchez Iglesias says:

    Thank you for the input

  8. Angel Luis Sanchez Iglesias says:

    Thank you for the input

  9. Angel Luis Sanchez Iglesias says:

    Thank you for the input

  10. Tibor Schiemann says:

    Great post! Indeed it’s very useful to have a checklist close to your computer incase of unexpected happenings. The most remarkable thing you mentioned is, that most people don’t check to see if their cable connection is connected to the router properly. Sometimes it’s just due to something so small that you won’t even notice it.

  11. Tibor Schiemann says:

    Great post! Indeed it’s very useful to have a checklist close to your computer incase of unexpected happenings. The most remarkable thing you mentioned is, that most people don’t check to see if their cable connection is connected to the router properly. Sometimes it’s just due to something so small that you won’t even notice it.

  12. Tibor Schiemann says:

    Great post! Indeed it’s very useful to have a checklist close to your computer incase of unexpected happenings. The most remarkable thing you mentioned is, that most people don’t check to see if their cable connection is connected to the router properly. Sometimes it’s just due to something so small that you won’t even notice it.

  13. Angel Luis Sanchez Iglesias says:

    Thank you Tibor.

  14. Angel Luis Sanchez Iglesias says:

    Thank you Tibor.

  15. Angel Luis Sanchez Iglesias says:

    Thank you Tibor.

  16. manoj says:

    Great post.. this is what i was looking for!

  17. Angel Luis says:

    Thanks for the comment manoj. I am open to every suggestion you have about new articles.

Comments are closed.


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