IT Advice needed

[intertext]

My internet has slowed to a crawl - it's driving me crazy. I have a wireless modem on dsl (telus for anyone local who knows what I mean), and lately it's just taking forever to load pages.

I'm on a Mac (macbook) and according to Finder have bags of harddrive space left and wouldn't have thought it was a RAM problem. Is there somewhere in the Mac like in Windows Task Manager where you can go and see what's happening at a given moment? Also, could it be because I'm being invaded by some other user on my wireless network? I need to reset my security on the network - I wouldn't have thought that would affect it, anyway, but want to cover all possible bases.

Comments

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Activity Monitor

[intertext.livejournal.com]

thank you!

[owlfish]

Off topic - did you get my email from the other day? No rush to answer, but since I have an email I sent today that I know didn't arrive, I did suddenly wonder.

[sheilap.livejournal.com]

Whenever I have problems like this, I unplug EVERYTHING (especially modems and routers) for a full five minutes. Then I plug in modem, wait for five, then router (if applicable). Routers are a good defense against predators too. This "resets" the devices, giving them a little break. The modems are always on and can get bogged down. This is often and easy fix, and can't hurt anything even if it doesn't work!

I would also highly recommend checking the security settings for any wireless connection. I do not have a wireless connection, but never have a problem getting one when I need one.

Do you have a good defense program? I highly recommend PC Cillin (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) although I am not sure it is Mac friendly yet. This site has a FREE scan!!! It is truly free, and doesn't ask for money to "fix" the problems. You can run the free scan often, but it will not 'prevent' problems. Since I have purchased this software my computer has run very well.

ALSO, the long weekend made my speedy connection horribly slow...

Good luck.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

No! Unless... I thought I had changed the default address of my LJ mail, and maybe I didn't. I'll go and check my other one now.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

It was on my "other" gmail address. COOL!! I am definitely interested.

[inaniac.livejournal.com]

Mac Wireless (http://www.macwireless.com/html/support/airport_radar/index.php?ven=mw&cat=airport_radar&ver=1.1.2b1) will let you see what wireless networks are around you. It's a widget so is quite handy wherever you go.

Can you check the settings on the Modem? I'm assuming there's a router in there with it. You'll need to check whether anyone else is connecting and that would mean looking at the interface to the modem. You'd probably be connecting via DHCP (acronym for thing what lets computers connect and get an IP address). You can check your IP (under network in the system prefs) against what's in the modem. Make sure there is only one IP address assigned by the modem and that it matches yours.

There's a lot of stuff to cover. If you still need help with it, get the modem model number (will be on the modem somewhere) and we can work from there.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I'll be working at home tomorrow, so will take some time to get at the innards of my router etc and see what difference that makes.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Sheila! I'll try yours and inaniac's fixes tomorrow when I'm working at home.

[inaniac.livejournal.com]

I'll be on jabber (via gmail) most of the day and can jump on MSN (same addy) if you need help. Although your day is my night or something. Teaching tonight so will be offline for a while and then brain dead. ;-)