Athlon 2100+
Geforce 4 Graphics card
512MB ram
NForce2 Mobo
40 gig HD
Windows XP Pro

Hi guys, I'm really stuck and hope someone can help me out. Sorry if I put this in the wrong place.

Ive' had AOL Broadband for about a year now. Recently (in the last 3 weeks or so) I have encountered a very unusual and annoying problem.

My problem is that AOL stops responding under load. If I'm simply using it to browse it runs fine however if I load up Kazzaa and start downloading files, after a while my download rate goes to zero, if I attempt to access a page after this nothing happens. This usually happens between 30 mins and 1 hour after I start downloading.

I try to close AOL and it says "AOL is not responding" and I have to do it via the task bar. Additionally once this happens AOL refuses to load up again until I reboot my system, and the system will not shut down properly, it just goes to the signing out screen and stays there.

Last night I was able to download from around 8:45 till 4:00 this afternoon without incident. I was hopeful the problem had gone away. I reset my connection and have now been cut off 3 times within the space of 2 hours when downloading. Here is a list to date of what I have tried:-

1) Changed filters and disconnected everything else from every phone socket in the house.

2) Installed 3 different versions of AOL and formatted the hard drive twice.

3) Had my phone line checked by BT.

4) Performed various tasks suggested by AOL which were never going to make any difference.

5) Run fault checks on my modem and AOL.

6) Run spybot to check for crap.

7) Threatened to beat my computer.

Aside from my next move which is to try a new ISP I can't think of anything else. I don't believe that it is an AOL problem though, but I may be wrong.

My drive is partitioned into 2 sections, I keep all my downloads on partition 2 and have not formatted that, could it be a virus that is on the other partition?

Sorry bout the essay but any advise would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Nik

Are you using a Firewall and a good, updated AntiVirus program which is set to scan and clean all files on access?

If not, your PC is probably by now riddled with virrii, trojans and other malware which is affecting your performance. Having an unprotected broadband connection and using it for file-leeching, quite apart from the moral and legal issues, is a rather silly practice and an invitation for problems.

Kazaa is probably the worst tool of all to use, as well, as Kazaa users inevitably will encounter unwanted intrusions. Some of them come in with the software itself!