Today, all of the sudden, my bandwidth sucks. My SBC DSL was running at around 2400 kbps, then today, around 200 kbps in every speed test I can find! This has happened once before without an explanation and a reformat was required to fix the problem. This time I've done a virus check w/updated defs, ad-aware scan, and theres no suspicious processes running in the background (as far as I can see). I even plugged the cat 5 from my modem into my other computer and sure enough, 2400kbps. Whats going on here? I have considered a similarity in both occurences of this slow connection problem: before each time this has happened I installed Azureus (bit torrent client) and the required java runtime files to run the app. Im not sure if this is at all connected... maybe? Help please!

Maybe Azureus is using all the bandwidth. That type of file sharing software does take a great deal of your bandwidth and use it for its own purpose - don't they? Just remove that software and if your problem goes away, then get on one of the Bit-torrent forums and get some advise on the best way to set it up.

It's most likely a program hogging bandwidth. Install a firewall and try denying internet access to various programs - single out the bandwidth-hogging program. Then either uninstall that program, or post what you've figured out and we'll tell you where to go from there. BTW, no spyware scan or virus-scanner is 100% complete. I find that housecall is by far the virus scanner (and as a bonus, it's free!); unfortunately, it doesn't provide any real-time protection. As for spyware, I use adaware and spybot: adaware because it has the largest definition database, and spybot because it's packaged with a few neat little tools (and scans faster).

Azureus is known to be a bit resource hungry (due to being java-based), but it shouldn't use any bandwidth unless you have a torrent open. If the problem seems to go away when you uninstall Azureus, try using ABC or BitTornado instead. They both can be downloaded from SourceForge.

Turns out that my slow speeds were due to my installation of Protowall not being compatible with my network card (Realtek). In case it could help, heres a link to the Protowall manufacturer's documentation on the issue: http://www.bluetack.co.uk/modules.php?name=FAQ&myfaq=yes&id_cat=1&categories=ProtoWall+FAQ#4 Cheers to clearing this one up..

Ick. Protowall... I've been using it for about two weeks now. Ever since I installed it my system has been crashing randomly >-( Still better than PeerGuadian, though... Last I heard, PeerGuardian was planning on incorporating Kernel Functions (much like ProtoWall). Maybe when that happens, we'll have a stable AND fast program...

This only goes to show that we nearly never have all the details. The owners are the best research tools when looking for a cure, because they are right there and know everything. The best we can do from here is guess.