I have a question I hope someone may be able to help me out. I have a small office with 3 computers on a WIRED network. I know my old D-Link Router d104? is old, but here is my problem and setup. Computer 1> Win XP, decent speed P4 3ghz. All of the files are located on this computer. 99% of all the work done is thru Microsoft Access. Generally 2-4 access files opened, all day long. Working on this computer is fast and beautiful. The Access program automatically backs up the work every 2 mins? And every time you unfilter/filter. Computer 2> Decent speed also LAPTOP, internet connection is a little slower than on computer 1, but not a huge issue. This computer accesses computer 1 to also work on the same Access files. When doing so, it is sllooooooooooow. Every time you try to do something, even simple, like filter a column from A to Z, it has a long delay and you have to wait for "Queue" on the bottom left, and it pauses alot as you're updating the file. Its slow enough to make the user frequently wait and "sigh" while it does its thing. Computer 3> Least used computer, duo-core, Vista (blech). Same exact running speed as computer 2 when utilizing the LAN. I've tried different settings, different duplexes, etc, but I have a feeling that the router itself is just slow as crap. I would like all 3 systems to run fast. Am I missing something or should I simply get a better router? If so, what router would you recommend for this setup? I don't want to go Cisco, I want to be able to setup things myself and I'm decent with networking, except this problem obviously. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. -Rusted

Set up only two computer just to test thoughput maybe. Might set up two live cd's and ftp or transport a file. Could be poor quality connections too. I'd also use performance monitor. Kind of hard to tell. Network load affects processors, in some cases a lot. This is what I mostly suspect. Your laptop is at it's limit from processor use. Other things might cause it to. See also taskman. As a rule simple home routers could be pretty good to pretty much a hub. Most can't report backplane use. Put a live linux cd in and see if you can access it faster for a guess as to spyware malware. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

OK...here is my thought... Computer #1 is your "server"...it's fast because Access is on that computer... Computer #2 and 3 are workstations networked to your server (computer #1)and the only common point is your D-Link router... I would replace it and see where that puts you...this is probably the least expensive item in the scheme of things... If you like your D-Link, get another... The 3 major brands are Linksys, D-link and Netgear...there all about the same in features and quality... Stay with what you know... good luck...

If all 3 computers are connected to the router, then it can't be the router unless the one that's slow is plugged into a bad port. Easy enough to test, swap it and one of the others. Does the problem follow the slow box or not? Here's what I see and know.... I see that computer 1 has the db on it and runs fast. This makes sense since if you're actually sitting at the console of this particular computer and are using the database, then of course it will be fast. The other two go slow when connected to it and the db on it. Here's what I know.... Databases are slow. Accessing one across a network is slow. Let's not forget too that Access is a Microsoft product. Before committing to a new router see if you can't borrow a switch off of somebody and just plug all clients into the switch and the router into the switch. This will give all clients access to the internet while excluding the router from LAN connectivity when they acccess each other. Does the problem still exist. If yes, then it's not your router. If the problem goes away, then it was your router and you've now fixed the issue while keeping your LAN safely hidden behind a firewall. Oh and just for the record, I'd be surprised if it was your router.

I would suggest reviewing all three devices lan connection speeds. Do they all connect at 100mb? If your "server" was only connecting at 10mb would explain the network slowness. The other most common issue is name resolution. You can solve this by creating a hosts file containing all three pc names and their ip addresses [means you need to set static ips for your lan]. You put this file on all three devices. Example of Oxymoron: Person who is pro life and anti sex education. Education is key to prevention. Prevent conception you prevent abortion. Abstinence training clearly isn't working.