I have 3 computer hooked up to a Netgear Switch and for some reason the connection is really slow. When playing games over the network it runs really slow. And also when I try to access big files it's slows and freezes up the machine. Tow machines are running 256mb ram and the other 128mb ram. Will more Ram help this problem? Are they any other configurations I can do to the netowork to help it run faster? Any help would be great. Thanks.

Well, that could be a number of things. Use Qcheck from www.netiq.com/qcheck/default.asp to measure your network speed. Some network speeds could be between 5-20 Mbps and sometimes 50-60 Mbps (very inconsistant). After a NIC driver update and a few tweaks to the parameters, the speeds could go upto 90-95 Mbps. Some switches/routers have an option on the box to do full duplex or half duplex communications, while the better ones can auto detect. Think of full duplex as a telephone (communication can happen in two directions at the same time), while half duplex is like a walkie-talkie (communication only happens in one direction at a time). If this is an option on your Netgear box, it could be the problem. Perhaps this isn't controlled on the box, so browse around the software that came with the switch, maybe you can control the duplex there. Setting this to the wrong duplex could slow your network down. Another option is the speed of the transmission. Some boxes let you set the speed to 10Mbps, 100Mbps or auto detect. Look at the reading material that came with your switch and see what it can do. If it auto detects, you should be laugh'n and scratch'n. The network cards also might be the bottle neck. Again, make sure they have the right drivers. Make sure they are all the same speeds. Make sure the duplex is set right. Some NICs have jumper settings on them to alter the transmission speeds, so look at your manuals. Sometimes the software that came with the NIC allows you to alter these settings. What protocols are you using? I have XP and 98 networked with both TCP/IP and NetBEUI installed. TCP/IP is used for the Internet and NetBEUI for the local network. If TCP/IP is the default protocol you might experience problems. When connecting to a mapped drive the computer tries to connect first over TCP/IP and times out. Then and only then it tries the NetBEUI connection. This takes more time and makes the network connection seem slow. Go to the Control Panel > Networks > Bindings. Make NetBEUI the default protocol. This won't affect your internet connection, because NetBEUI isn't used for the internet. Lastly, make sure you have cable that supports the speed of the NICs. Cat5 or Cat5e (Ethernet) cable is what I use for 100Mbps speeds. How long is your cable and where is this cable running? As wanderer said in a post on a similar topic, make sure the cable isn't near florescent lights, mechanical equipment or in the same conduit as power circuit wiring. This will cause interferance with your network connection. Below are some links that might help. http://www.georgetown.edu/uis/selfhelp/slow.connection.html http://asia.cnet.com/itmanager/netadmin/0,39006400,39068513,00.htm http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/slowbrowse01.htm Cheers, Mike