10 Ways To Speed Up Your Internet

Having a slow internet connection is a pain in the ass. I hate waiting for pages that seem to take forever to load, videos that constantly buffer, and browsers that fail because it takes too long to open a web page. It’s frustrating and I have better things to do just like you, then sitting around losing my mind because my internet speed is slower then the second coming of Christ. So I put together a list of 10 things you can do to speed up your internet.

1. Do your maintenance

If you want to start speeding up your internet connection the first place you should look to do this is your computer. You should be running disk defrags and virus scans on a regular basis. This will help get rid of useless files or potential virus’ that could be slowing down your computer.

Also go through your computer and remove any unused files to help speed up your connection. The better your computer is running the better it’ll perform online.

2. Boost your wifi signal

If you’re using wireless (wifi for short) and your getting a crappy connection try boosting the signal. This can be done by moving your computer closer to the router, removing extra barriers between the two, or boosting your wifi and computers antennas. To boost your wifi signal for free here is a list of a few ways you can do this.

3. Check with your ISP

Sometimes the reason for a bad internet connection might have to do with the ISP or internet service provider your using. Give them a call to see if something can be done on their end to speed up your internet connection.

4. Switch to an open DNS

DNS stands for domain name server; this is what translates internet address into a form that people can understand. An open DNS can speed up your internet connection because they store large caches of internet addresses. By storing them they allow those address’s to be translated quickly giving you faster internet speed.

One DNS that seems to work very well is Google’s Public DNS (No surprise since Google is everywhere)

5. Go online when it's not busy

This one kinda sucks but it’s a quick fix so I included it. Some internet providers have peak times, this is when they experience high volumes of traffic and as a result can’t handle it and slow down. Of course this means not using the internet on weekends and evenings.

6. Update your browser

Another way to speed up your internet connection is to upgrade your current browser. These updated browsers also come with updated security and other tweaks to boost performance. All the type of browser you use will affect speed. Internet Explorer for example has a bad reputation of being slow due to the number of added apps (even their latest update) so switching to Google Chrome or Firefox might also be an alternative to look into.

7. Pause your torrent downloads and close

Downloading files especially larger ones such as movies can also have an adverse affect on your internet speed. When browsing online or playing online games, pause you’re downloading until you’re done.

8. System restore

Doing this will revert your computer to an earlier point. This can help increase your internet speed by removing recent program or driver updates that are affecting performance.

9. Check your firewall

Your firewall while being helpful at preventing virus’s and suspicious activity can slow down your internet connection. That’s because firewalls require large amounts of resources to run automatically. To improve your speed set your fire wall configurations manually.

10. Upgrade your computer

You’re only as fast as your computer will allow you to be. Ultimately if your computer can’t run any faster you need to consider upgrading or replacing it all together. Check for other ways to speed up your internet first, but if your computer looks like a relic from the Stone Age it’s going to perform like it’s from the Stone Age.