Just spent two fruitless hours on phone with ATT

[babylonsister]

About 3 days ago, I started having problems loading pages. They'd load halfway or not at all. I'm still getting DU as of this second, but am not holding my breath as I've had problems with this site, too.

Did Norton security checks, unplugged modem, reset modem, and the IT guy in the Philippines had me delete superfluous security files.

I loaded three sites successfully, we hung up, now the exact same thing is happening. Cannot load pages or they load halfway, and everything is slow-w-w. :banghead:

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm at my wits end. I need this 'puter to go to my daily job-hunting sites, and am beyond frustrated.

Using Firefox's latest version, Windows XP.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

[david13]

1. I don't know. I am dealing with the same isue but in a different

situation.
First, norton is totally useless. You pay way too much and get absolutely nothing. Dump that thing and get something that works. That may solve it.
In my circumstance, we share with 3 other computers.
If I am running with no one else in the building, I have no problem.
But when the others come in the slowness starts.
And when one, who usually runs two computers comes in the loading almost stops totally. I think it is his computers, as he has no idea about computer security and probably uses norton as well.
And his computers are filled with garbage beyond belief, so I suspect him.
But it could be the line, or the modems that are not working right.
dc

[EvolveOrConvolve]

2. I agree with David, dump Norton

Norton's probably half of your problem. There are free alternatives that work better, take up less system resources, and are more effective.

Avast Antivirus: http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
CCleaner: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

After you've uninstalled Norton and installed those 3 tools, run scans with them to make sure you don't have any viruses or malware that are causing problems.

Some other things to try:

1. Uninstall anything in your Add/Remove Programs list that you don't use. If you have a question about a specific application, ask here or Google it to make sure it's not something mission critical.

2. Check to see if you have a bunch of garbage loading up at system start-up. Click Start->Run and type in "msconfig" (without the quotes). Check the "Selective Startup" box, then go to the Startup tab. Uncheck everything. Yes, everything. Then go through and make sure that the Avast Antivirus option is selected. Reboot your computer. When it starts back up, you'll get a System Configuration Utility pop-up box. Check the "Don't tell me again" (or something like that - I can't remember exactly what it says, I'm working from memory here) check box and click OK.

3. Download the Google Chrome browser and use it for a little while. Does it have the same problems loading pages?

4. Run a speed test on your internet connection. I like www.speakeasy.net/speedtest. If the speed test is considerably lower than what your internet provider claims, you may have a problem with your modem. Ask for a replacement from your ISP.

[babylonsister]

3. Thanks for all that info and links.

This is very weird; at times, like now, it's acting perfectly normal. An hour ago I couldn't get on anything. Very frustrating. I'm copying/pasting your info, but truth be told, since I'm obviously a novice, doing all that deleting is a scary prospect for me. And the ATT guy did do the speed test twice, but do you think I wrote the results down? No. He/we went to speedtest.net

I'm going to go look and see what garbage I might have in misconfig; I'm thinking something is hanging my abilty to maneuver up.

But when it works fine, I don't see how it could be a modem problem.

Anyway, thank you!

[ohheckyeah]

4. Did it start with the latest Firefox update?

I read on another forum some people are having trouble since they upgraded their Firefox.

[Egnever]

5. Couple things

First norton is not crap these days, Its actually pretty good and has good detection rates and a very small footprint. If You have paid for it keep it till your sub runs out at least.

First thing i would try if i were you is. Hit start go to run type CMD and hit OK

in the box that comes up type

ping www.google.com -n 40

then hit enter. This will test your conection to google 40 times. When it finished it will give you a report of its findings similar to this

Packets: Sent = 25, Received = 25, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 16ms, Maximum = 41ms, Average = 20ms

on the first line you see sent, recieved and lost if you have lost packets get back on the phone with at&t cause you have got a problem with your connection that they more than likely need to come fix. Tell them when you get on the phone with them that you are dropping packets and they should get right on it.

Also look at the last line the average response time should not be higher than oh say 80ms higher than that and again theres an issue with your connection.

Using the command line to test your connection will for the most part eliminate any interferance your browser may be running.

If you have no packet loss and the response time isnt higher than 80ms then it more than likely you.

At that point you need to make sure there is no spyware/virus etc slowing you down, malwarebytes is a good scanner to run in addition to norton.

Good luck :)

[david13]

6. If norton is so great, or even good, why would it need anything to go

with it?
dc

[Egnever]

8. No AV is 100%

They all need something else to go with them.

[hobbit709]

7. 90% of the infected computers I work on have Norton.

Up to date and everything.

As far as I'm concerned, Norton is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
Norton went downhill after they were bought out by Symantec.

[Egnever]

9. Well personal opinion aside, actual testing of real world products

Shows your anecdotal evidence leaves a little to be desired.
http://www.virusbtn.com/news/2009/03_23.xml

99.9% of all computers I work on have antivirus on them up to date and everything. Antivirus can not protect you all the time nor can it protect from a user that allows a virus in. In the tests run by AV comparatives Norton scored a 98.7% detection rate with very few false positives. That isnt the best in the industry to be sure but it isn't a screen door in a submarine either.


Product Malware on demand False positives Scan speed Malware on demand Award
AntiVir (Avira) A C B 99.7% Advanced
Avast! (Alwil) A C A 98.2% Advanced
AVG B C C 93.0% Standard
BitDefender A C C 98.0% Advanced
Command (Authentium) C C B 88.9% Tested
eScan (MicroWorld) A C C 98.0% Advanced
ESET NOD32 A B B 97.6% Advanced+
F-Secure B B C 93.4% Advanced
G DATA A C B 99.8% Advanced
Kaspersky A B B 97.1% Advanced+
Kingsoft D C A 84.5% Tested
McAfee A B B 99.1% Advanced+
Microsoft C A B 87.1% Standard
Norman C C C 87.8% Tested
Norton (Symantec) A B A 98.7% Advanced+
Sophos C B B 89.6% Standard
TrustPort A C C 97.1% Advanced
Key:

[hobbit709]

10. Lab testing doesn't allow for the Human 1.0 Interface in the real world.

That's where my work comes in.

The last virus that hit me was over 5 years ago-and that was because I trusted a disk that a friend gave me.

[Egnever]

11. Of course it doesn't

Nor does any antivirus solution out there.

You are now leaving the argument that Norton is a horrible antivirus solution and moving to an argument that no antivirus can protect from a user that allows a virus in.

Bottom line is Norton is one of the best antivirus solutions out there not the best to be sure but still a completely viable solution for most users. It is not a screen door on a submarine as you suggested earlier.

It certainly is not my first choice I prefer kaspersky or eset myself but that doesn't make is useless, far from it.

[david13]

12. For my purposes it proved totally useless. dc

[Berserker]

13. OMG

(Bottom line is Norton is one of the best antivirus solutions out there)
That is like saying McDonald's is one of the best restaurants out there because so many people eat their everyday.
Most of the poor fucking unknowing public buy off the shelf computers with the shit program already installed on it and shortly after norton wants money.
Spare me

[Egnever]

14. No its like saying testing has shown it to be so.

again its not my first choice either but that doesn't take away from the fact that despite your personal feelings independent testing has shown it to be one of the better solutions out there.

Feel free to show me something besides OMFG BS that says otherwise.

[david13]

17. Absolutely. I have had people look me in the eye and say

they have a good anti virus program, norton, because it costs a lot of money, and because it came with their computer, even tho' we are sitting at their computer looking at a virus or several that have the computer out of service. Unknowing public. It's amazing how little some people know about computers.
(And I claim to be no expert whatsoever).
dc

[babylonsister]

15. Update with thanks: I don't know what happened, and I'm

afraid I'll jinx myself for typing this, but after the weekend things smoothed out and seem to be working fine now. Maybe ATT got the meme and had to hit a button?

And yes, my Firefox is acting hinky; sometimes I have to reload it 3 or 4 times to get to my home page. But, fingers crossed, it's still working.

Thank you all for taking the time and effort again to try and help. I love this forum and appreciate you!

[whistler162]

16. Are you using a Proxy?

If not check to see if the Proxy setting is set and/or contains any URL.

[babylonsister]

18. I don't even know what that is. I'm pretty much 'puter illiterate.

I guess Firefox isn't a proxy for IE? See?? :)