Computers slow down for a number of reasons. Usually it can be chalked up to a lack of routine maintenance. Whatever the reason, it is never more annoying than when you are trying to connect to the internet. What happened to your Vista internet experience? It used to be lightening fast, loading pages at the blink of an eye. Now you are wondering if someone is playing a cruel joke on you and secretly put you back on a dial-up connection. Well, unless you have some really creative friends, the problem boils down to mostly, you! You have been sitting there surfing the net and filling your computer with all kinds of temporary files and whatever else you have clicked on, to download. Before you start getting all indignant, it's not entirely your fault. I mean, who told you that you had to perform any kind of maintenance?, no one, right? So here is some free help to tell you what you need to know to restore speed to your Vista internet. Well, let's rectify that situation right now and address the individual actions that you can perform to eliminate Vista internet problems. First of all you are going to learn how to delete cookies. You've heard of them but there are no Girl Scouts giving you these cookies. Deleting cookies  1. From the Start menu, click Internet Explorer.  2. On the Toolbar, click Tools, and then click Delete Browsing History  3. In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, click Delete Cookies  4. Click Yes This next step will remove your Vista internet history files, so be advised that your computer will "forget" the connections you've made and you will have to type URL addresses into the address bar again. Clearing History files  1. Repeat steps 1 and 2  2. In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, click Delete History  3. Click Yes Temporary Vista internet files are supposed to make a web page load faster when you get online and initially it does. When you have been to a few hundred or so sites, possibly more, it takes your computer longer to find the files it saved to make your page load faster. So at times it is necessary to clear this cache of files. Click Image to Enlarge Click Image to Enlarge Deleting Temporary Internet files  1. Repeat steps 1 and 2  2. In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, click Delete Files  3. Click Yes Now to a few Vista internet issues that are beyond your control. That's it, you are off the hook. Now it's someone else's fault that your computer is slow. Viruses and adware dragging you down Viruses and adware/spyware are often the culprit for a slow connection to the internet. Infections can eat up your bandwidth and your system resources. These malicious pieces of code are normally hard to find as they will not proclaim their existence. It is up to you to have antivirus protection on your computer and to make sure virus definitions (think of them as wanted posters for viruses) are up to date. You also need to be running an up to date anti-spyware. Keeping other peoples programs off your computer will keep your surfing habits your own and won't be a drain on your system. Problem hardware drivers Slow Vista internet connections can be the result of poorly written drivers for the network card. You can update or rollback your drivers to see if this lets you connect with a speed/performance boost. Updating a driver or reinstalling the network card can be done easily, but this is how you accomplish a driver roll back:  1. Click on the Start menu  2. Right Click on My Computer and go to Properties  3. Click on the Hardware tab  4. Click on Device Manager  5. Expand Network Adapters  6. Double-Click your Network Card  7. Click on the Driver tab  8. Click on Roll Back Driver Windows Networking shoots self in foot...News at Ten. Vista supports the new IP protocol, IPv6, with its improved protocols and network detection. It's only real problem is that it's ahead of its time and a lot of servers are not ready to deal with the new protocol. Think along the lines of the "smooth" transition to digital T.V. We all know how that went. So along with your network connection your system might actually be getting dragged down as well. Here are the steps to disable IPv6. 1. Open Control Panel. 2. Open Network and Internet. 3. Open Network Connections. 4. Right click the connection you wish to remove IPv6 from. Select Properties. 5. Remove the check mark from "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)". 6. Click OK. Following these steps should help you to see a marked improvement in you Vista internet. Vista Internet by PC Apprentice 2009 - 2017 Getting Information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant. -Mitchell Kapor