A need for speed

[El Mimbreno]

I'm struggling with slow downloads, interrupted streaming and other issues. HP laptop, 1.3 Ghz AMD processor, 4Gb Ram. Windows 10 takes up half the RAM, Firefox another quarter, leaving .5 Gb working RAM. All of our devices experience frequent disconnects from HughesNet; They say it's the devices but had me change some wifi settings.

I also have a weird partition on the hard drive. F: 263 MB free of 895 MB. Double click on it and get "The folder is empty"

Anyone have ideas? I'd like to at least stream some PBS videos.

Thanks

[Timewas]

1. Toomany Variables

Not enough RAM to really run windows 10 very well for starters and if you are working with hughes sat internet they have been a problem for many people for a long time.. What is the label if any for that empty partition? Windows will try to have a system reserved partition but usually not that big.With sat internet it is hard to much more than DL a few things and not sure about streaming at all. Years ago I installed StarBAnd sat internet and used it for uite a while but even slow DSL was better so igf you have access to another service that would be ideal answer.

[El Mimbreno]

6. Figured the Ram was at least part

of the problem. Hughes claims their speed is adequate for streaming, but we get random disconnects on both computers and both phones, which tells me the problem is in the satellite service. Think I'll check out the phone co. We had DSL from them a few years ago, but after 3 modem failures (OK one was lightning) we decided to try satellite.

[Timewas]

7. RAM

Is only part if the problem but for the computer side it is the main one... Satellite internet has built in problems mainly being lag time.There is a minimum of .6 second lag for sat service and there is no way around that.They attempt to alleviate it by caching but it is not a lot of help...DSL is way way better I went from sat service to DSL from Frontier and had 1.3 download speeds and was way ahead of sat service even at that low speed.

[kysrsoze]

2. If you can double your ram, do it. Your system is choking on it.

Ram is easy and very cheap. For $50 or so, you can go to 8gb or even 16gb, if your system allows.

If that’s not an option, the only other permanent option you have short of a new PC is a solid state hard drive. The combination of more memory and a solid state hard drive will make a computer run like it’s brand new again for years.

I would ignore that partition, so long as you have a good amount of free space on the rest of the hard drive. It may be a windows reinstall partition, but it’s not enough space to matter either way.

In the meantime, make sure you do the following, which can make things run better, at least temporarily.

1. clear the cache and cookies regularly on whatever browser(s) you are using

2. do a CTRl + ALT + DEL and go into the startup list to uncheck and prevent unnecessary programs from loading into memory.

3. uninstall whatever programs you are not using.

4. download and use a free program called ccleaner to clear you Windows registry of leftover software tie-ina that might still be taking up memory and hard drive space.

[Midnightwalk]

3. Another suggestion

Download a video and play it.

If that has problems it’s your computer not the internet connection.

If downloaded videos play fine it could be either. Google checking your internet speed. There’s more to isolate.

I agree with other comments. 4GB isn’t much anymore.

[El Mimbreno]

5. Downloaded videos

play just fine, but it might take a few attempts to download. Internet speed is all over the place. I figured the RAM was at least part of the problem, but despite what Hughesnet tech says, the fact that we get disconnects on all our devices says to me that the problem in in the satellite service. When we have a disconnect, we still show full wifi. Zoom meetings (local D Party) are a disaster and I was never able to fully load a Google Meet.

Thanks for your help.

[Make7]

4. You can watch your network data usage (i.e. download speed) in Task Manager or Resource Monitor.

During a speed test, download, or streaming; open up Task Manager and watch the data activity. The data usage should be consistent during a speed test and for most downloads. While streaming, watch to see if the interruptions in streaming coincide with little to no data activity (streaming data is often erratic - but if there's no activity and no video at the same time, it's an issue).

As stated above, 4GB of ram is not enough for new operating systems. But whether that, your internet connection, or WiFi is the primary culprit will require a little testing and troubleshooting on your part.

Test your internet speed - and monitor how steady or erratic the data transfer is. If that is slow or very inconsistent, try testing with another device (PC, phone, tablet) to compare speeds to see if it's the your computer or the internet connection. Also try a wired connection to the computer if you're using WiFi, just in case the wireless connection is slowing things down.