Mum Thinks My Computer Is Making Hers Slow

[brycegordon]

Alrighty. First up this has been going along for some time and my mum is 100% convinced that my computer is making her computer go slower, and she is automaticly right because she gets her temper going when I try to protest against it.

Okay, my computer is running in my bedroom, with the only connection between our computers being a wireless connection. We both have our seperate mother boards so everything that we do that doesnt include the internet should be all within the individual computers shouldn't it?

I know a little bit about computers but I thought I would come to a place were someone can sort out the delema for us once and for all, because im not even 100% sure who's right.

Please help me!

[Thong_Ispector]

If you switch off your computer does she see a dramatic increase in the speed of her PC..

Is she talking about locally run programs or is she talking about internet access? Shared internet access will be dramatically slower...

A wireless router where you connect to the router and not to her PC and then onto the net pops up as a possible solution if you are not already setup that way...

You need to define your mothers definition of slow...

Is her PC connected to the internet or is your PC connected to the internet? Is this different than it was before she complained?

Have you run the usual spyware and adware programs to see if something from your pc snuck into hers...?

Just a few ideas for you to work on...

[brycegordon]

so everything that we do that doesnt include the internet should be all within the individual computers shouldn't it

:P I am talking about just general computer laggyness. Things like opening up word doc's ect.
I know that I would prolly slow the internet connections speed, but i dont know about her comp speed.

[Zachery]

Whens the last time you defrag her computer? How about other general windows maitence?

[brycegordon]

lol.. shes a defrag machine, everytime something isnt right she relates it to eather my computer being on, or that she hasnt defraged the comp in the last few days. She is up to date with every thing that could possibly lag her computer.. all i want to know is, is it at all possible that my comp is causing hers to slow doing normal activities like browsing windows explorer or somthing.

[Zachery]

No, not under any normal circumstances...

[goldeagle2005]

I suspect a virus/spyware problem. Or a corrupt driver. Since you say she downloads almist all the updates, she may have downloaded an update or a driver not compatible with the hardware. Try a recent system restore point and see if it helps

[nytrokiss]

i know the issue try not to use so much bandwidth some oses like windows go slow if there is alot of packets on the wire!!!

[grandman]

The first reply you recieved gave the only answer that would explain your comp, slowing down your mums comp.

I your mother box is hardwired into the net connection and your box goes through hers when your surfing the net, then yes you could, and probably will slow down her computer. That is what the "D" processors are for, multi tasking.

If you are set up this way, just reverse it use your box as the hard wired gateway to the net, then her box will not be effected....

[goldeagle2005]

You mean the Pentium D processors? The dual core ones? You mean to tell me that dual core CPUs will give you better network performance?

[grandman]

That is what they are about, most people think they are going to be much faster, than single core CPU, under normal circumstances NOT TRUE.

When you get to multi-tasking then they will out-perform any single core. Even the last single core IE P4 - 6xx HT will out-perform at multi-tasling, of course the fact that they are also 64bit can help with SOME software and HINDER with other...

I would advise anyone to wait having already gone someway down that road and found to many minuses as well as pluses, TOOOO many MINUSES at present.

GM

PS may have miss-led someone, I would say the "D" cps are multi-tasking for stand alone PC's. you could use one as a server chip, but there are specific MoBo and CPU's designed for servers. In the past if you connected two CPU's in a PC the second would do no work, with the "D" CPU's both cores work all the time.

Try getting two or more folders and drag + drop at the same time with a "D" chip the all start at the same time, no waiting for the first to stop before the second starts..

[falconprince]

If you switch off your computer does she see a dramatic increase in the speed of her PC..

Is she talking about locally run programs or is she talking about internet access? Shared internet access will be dramatically slower...

A wireless router where you connect to the router and not to her PC and then onto the net pops up as a possible solution if you are not already setup that way...

You need to define your mothers definition of slow...

Is her PC connected to the internet or is your PC connected to the internet? Is this different than it was before she complained?

Have you run the usual spyware and adware programs to see if something from your pc snuck into hers...?

Just a few ideas for you to work on...

I think you may be on the right track here, and indeed what will provide the clue is if your mom's computer speeds up if yours is switched off. On my end I often face the problem at home (background: I am a dad with 3 teenagers that are all on the same wireless network as me), and I have tracked down what it is that slows us all down. That happens to be the Limewire program - if anyone has this running on their computer, even if they are not busy downloading something, the response time slows to a crawl, it is infuriating. So I go to each of them and ask, "Are you running Limewire?" and if they are I ask them to quit and lo and behold, the response-time zips back to its normal speedy self! Because what is happening of course, is that all the computers that have Limewire loaded are being polled for songs or whatever all the time in the background. I imagine that any of the peer-to-peer similar programs will cause a similar problem. Hope this helps...

[lightningdemon]

FOR BRYCEGORDON'S MOTHER:

***READ***

Your son's computer has no effect whatsoever on your individualized component operation. If you are running things "slower" than what you think they should be running, then it is a problem with your PC. The ONLY way his pc could possibly make your's run slower, is if he was habitually PINGing your pc. (PINGing is the processes of sending information packets to a specified desitination and waiting for a response to determine lag time) I would be quite sure that this isn't the case, and you should have your PC examined by someone who knows what they are doing to determine why it is running slow.

[The Geeky Kid]

For Bryce Gordan's mother:

Defragging your computer will not do to much, get a virus scanner (I prefer Avira AntiVir) McAffee is not so great, SpySweeper is the best but it's not free, get Zone Alarm, get Ad-Aware, and scan your computer with the virus scanner and Ad-Aware, also, too many programs, like more than 25 (big ones, not including ones that came with) will slow it down...go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and take out the ones you don't need! :)