Thursday, January 31, 2013

ISP not giving you all your internet speed?

How to test the performance of your Broadband connection

Is there a time when I should be testing my connection?

I am real big on analogies so if you are going to test your connection. See how the traffic flows on a highway is diffrent at different times of the day. So just like your internet, congestion on your connection plays a huge part.

Also if you using your connection 24 hours a day downloading and up loading files you may be subject to throttling by your internet service provider. This is to ensure fair use policy among all users.

So how can you see what kind of speed you are getting?

1. Go to Speedtest . This is a good site to check your possible through put of your internet. It will check your burst speed and average your overall speed.

2 Find a server. Select a server that is close to your current location. The farther away will result in lower speeds.

3 Click on Start test. This will start the test and show yo the end result of your test.

Now if you are not getting the speed promised. You will need to do a little house cleaning before you go to your ISP and complain. First restart your modem, router and your computer. Then run the steps again.

If that still fails. Then you are going to want to run your Anti-Virus and Malware/Spyware application. If you are confuse about this please follow this link.

If you have done all the step above. Still prior to complaining to the ISP run the test at 3 different times during the day. Ensure that it was not just a one time thing. Once you armed with all this data it is now time to call the ISP.

So Enjoy

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Blocked by Google

Now this may seem like such a big deal however it is not that big of an issue. Let me further explain.

Automated requests sent from your machine

When I received the message:

We're sorry...

... but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

See Google Help for more information.

According to the website and help documentation I should check for Viruses, Malware and Spyware using a whole list of software they recommend to use. I however know 100% prior to this my computer was clean. So then why did I get this message.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) only have a number of Internet Protocol (IPs) addresses they can use. Thus they do not give you an internet address you can use on the internet. However one address that is used on the intranet. Then once you go out the internet you share your IP with 100's of other people on the internet. This is know as being behind a proxy.

So how do you check if you are behind a proxy or actually assigned an IP address. Well the process is very simple.

If you just type into Google what is my IP it will give you what your IP address is. Then you will have one or two things you must do.

If you are connected through a router go to the router admin page and look for the WAN IP. If that number is the same as the IP given on Google then you are not behind a Proxy. Now if you are not behind a router and connected directly you will go to your Windows start icon and type in the search for programs type "CMD". (no ""). A box will appear and inside the box you will type ipconfig /all. Look for IPV4 address and that will either match or not. If it does not match then you are behind a proxy server. Proxy address normally begin with either 192 or 10.

Simple and if you are unsure if you are clean from viruses, spyware and malware please read my tips on keeping your computer clean.