OK, dunno if anyone can help. I have Windows XP (pro version) running on my PC, an upgrade from WindowsME. I never had the internet on this PC.. it ran super fast! (i use it for media, music, video work) BUT About 4 months ago i got a broadband service from my local cable suplier. nice :-) However, since i have got the internet connected up (always on), my Windows XP machine seems to run a HELL of a lot slowwer than before? 'SP1' didnt help and the windows quickfixes from the update site seem to make it worse? Whats going on here? i even re-installed windowsXP, but its still the same slowness with certain things, for example when outlook is open its very slow. Recently my boss at work gave me a link to a document that explained that its becuse winxp always connects to microsoft machines?! he even downgraded to win2k after reading this.. i DONT wanna do this, i paid a lot for winxp, and i like it.. i mean it ran miles faster than ME before i got online... anyway to curb this problem??? Any help? Tips? News? Please... :-(

i'm guessing you're using a USB ethernet device? i have the very same problem. i was on an athlon 700mhz not long ago, and the speed differences when the usb was plugged in were atrocious. Now, im on an athlon xp2000+ (1.67GHz) and i can STILL notice a speed change. When i have the usb unplugged on this comp, it runs at about the same speed as the athlon700MHz ran WITHOUT the usb ethernet in. i would really like someone with some knowledge of this to help :)

Is it slow with everything or just while you are surfing ?

>>Is it slow with everything or just while >>you are surfing ? slow with everything! sluggish on boot, winamp is slow.. video files are sluggish, Macromedia Director runs slower, its just an overall system drop.. YES, it IS a USB device, however, i didnt mension im using a WIRELESS router, with the modem in another room and the wireless arial on my pc, this too is USB.. BUT, before i got the wireless kit, it was still the same slowness... just plugged right into the modem.. it CANT be simply USB surely? can it?? i have a USB mouse, USB video capture device and a USB wireless gamepad and they never seem to cause problems..

Well u got the problem after you installed broadband....hmmm...thats starnge is there any application which constantly downloads something from the internet?...like kazaa or something...Did u do a norton scan... for virus..??

>>Well u got the problem after you >>installed broadband yeh, like i said, my machine was compleatly cut off from the net before this, not even 56k... nothing! >>is there any application which constantly >>downloads not really, sometimes i run Kazza, but not while im working on something, only when im surfing and wasting time, Kazza mostly runs when im off the PC just file shareing on its own,, yes it does slow down the pc a little as any program would do... >>Did u do a norton scan... for virus..?? yeh, i have norton, it says im clean, also with a fresh xp-install im still having problems..

dont think the wireless router would make too much of a speed change. is there any way you can unplug that and check? i'm running my usb ethernet device through usb2.0 now, and i thought it would stop this problem. alas, it doesnt. i did disable a few options somewhere on my comp when i last had xp installed (i had to format when i built a new comp) and this changed the speed quite well. but i cant remember which things i changed. i shouldnt think it was a virus, more of a hardware problem. all the people with broadband (from NTL, like you, im guessing) that use actual ethernet cards have absolutely no problem with speed. if you cant solve this problem, buy an ethernet card (think theyre about £10) and the problem should go away :)