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How to improve the dial up performance on your computer
At grainstoves.ca we understand that not all of our website visitors are using high speed internet and that our website can be cumbersome or too large for dial up users.
Here are some tips that may help to speed up your internet browser and optimize the dial-up performance of your computer. You will need to complete the following steps in your browser. **Please see below
1) Turn off web page images. With the Firefox browser, for example, this is accomplished by clicking on the View menu to open the Page Style panel, clicking on the No Style option. For Internet Explorer, it's a tad more difficult since Microsoft really doesn't want you to turn off their fancy web site materials. First click on the TOOLS menu at the top, choose Internet Options at the bottom of the drop-down menu, and then choose the Advanced tab at the top. Scroll down all these options until you come to the section entitled Multimedia. Under the Multimedia title you will see that you can turn on or off specific web functionalities (not like Firefox where they are all handled together under a single choice). The more of these functionalities that you turn off, the faster will be your browsing experience.
Good to know: This is probably not desirable for most people, but for those who are interested solely in text, it can speed up the rendering of pages considerably, particularly those which contain numerous advertisements or other images.
2) Empty browser caches, which are directories that the browser uses to retain copies of previously visited web pages.
Good to know: When these caches become very large, they can consume considerable space on a Hard Disk Drive and in some cases slow down computer operation, including the display of web pages.
To clear your cache:
1. On the Internet Explorer 6 'Tools' menu, click 'Internet Options'. The Internet Options box should open to the 'General' tab.
2. On the 'General' tab, in the 'Temporary Internet Files' section, click the 'Delete Files' button. This will delete all the files that are currently stored in your cache.
3. Click 'OK', and then click 'OK' again.
3) Use a fast web browser. There are large differences in the speeds at which browsers render web pages. The fastest is said to be Opera, followed closely by Firefox. However, Firefox is quickly becoming the choice of more and more users since it isn't the target of those that create destructive code.
www.opera.com - Free Opera internet browser
www.mozilla.com – Free Firefox internet browser
Good to know: The newest versions of these browsers are generally the fastest. Reasons for their high speeds include improvements in coding and in how previously visited pages are stored in the browser cache. Opera and Firefox can be downloaded from the Internet at no cost and are available for use with most major operating systems.
4) Make certain that the maximum speed setting for your modem is as high as the modem allows in order to obtain maximum modem speed. This setting can be easily confirmed using the utility that is used to dial the modem.
Good to know: Most modern operating systems usually take care of this automatically. However, some older systems have a default setting that is slower than the current 56Kbps dial-up modem maximum.
5) Avoid unnecessary browser plug-ins. One convenient way to disable a plug-in is to locate its file or directory and then make a slight change to the name of that file or directory, such as adding the letter x to the start or end of it; then, if you would like to reactivate that plug-in at a later date, all that is necessary is to restore the original name.
Good to know: Plug-ins can increase web page rendering time (the time is takes to view a page) because they allow additional data to be downloaded for many pages, in less time.
6) Turn off pop-up windows.
Good to know: Pop-up windows are unrequested windows, which are usually used for advertisements. They consume bandwidth and can slow down the rendering of desired pages by browsers. They are also a nuisance because the user has to click them to close them. The ability to turn off pop-up windows is a major feature of advanced browsers such as Firefox and Opera.
If you are using Internet Explorer:
Temporary solution: Hold the Control key whenever you click a link to a new section.
Permanent solution: Go to the following menu item within Internet Explorer: Tools > Pop-Up Blocker