Please help me to prove me parents wrong

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Dec 23, 2003
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We have 2 computers in our house. One downstairs one upstairs. We have them networked to share internet access. The downstairs is connected by ethernet. The upstairs through wireless. My dad keeps saying that the downstairs computer is going real slow, and thinks it is my computer. I do a lot of downloading, and I have to keep it on almost all the time. The one day he comes in my room and sees I have my computer hooked up to the TV (I have a Video Card that allows you to hook up an svideo cable to the TV). He thinks that is what is making it go slow, my video card, which does not make sense what so ever. I need advice here. I am going to send this site to my dad after I get some answers, to prove him wrong. He wants ME to get a separate cable modem set up for my computer, so he can get on his online solitaire site a few seconds faster. I know I might be sounding dumb, but will have only 2 computers hooked into a network, with the main computer hooked directly into the source, make the main computer run slow? Also would my video card, which is on the upstairs computer, make the other run slow when I have the TV on? Thanks.
 
Your huge amount of downloading is what is doing that. Peripherals such as video cards aren't going to have any effect on something like his download speed.

The fact that you are downloading large amounts of stuff will, however.

Basically, as you play the TV through your vid card, yes, your processor is running However, it's not going to affect his download speed.
 
I wouldn't say I do a huge amount of downloading. Most of the time I am on queue for download. Also he uses AOL. I told him to get rid of it and he insists that my computer is making his slow.
 
Why would you not want to have your own connection? Why does it matter who is right or wrong, when you have a chance to get your own dedicated connection? No, the TV card has nothing to do with it, but so what? And posting a message saying "Wahhh!! I want to prove my parents wrong" with the plan of pointing them to the message to see that you are correct seems like a stupid plan to me. In what way do you benefit from this? I don't understand your goal, here.

RagManX
 
turn off and unplug your comptuer for a day... don't tell him you are doing it though... then he will be down there bitchin, and you can be like. . yo... my computer is off...
 
Doing a lot of downloading....we might assume you have those system wreaking P2P apps installed, like Kazaa, etc...which come simply bloated with ad/spyware, which fest your system with little programs that sap the life out of network connections with constant trickles of data going back 'n forth in the background.

My kid tries that with me....and since I pay for my internet connection, that he can use when I'm not home, at night time, when it's daddies turn to play Battlefield 42/Vietnam.....and he thinks he's going to start downloading stuff...I reach up, and unplug his CAT6 from my router.

Problem solved.
 
Because first my parents need to wake up and start listening to pros like myself. My dad only knows how to get on AOL, check his mail and play online solitaire. I don't want a dedicated connection because it isn't practical, plus I refuse to pay another $35 a month for it.
 
I check my system for spyware. It doesn't have any. I use kazaalite and emule. Both spyware free apps. I tried to do a similar thing with tricking him. He told me to turn off my computer at night, that is when he is on. I didn't turn it off. The next day he asked if I turned it off I said yes, he said it went fast. I then told him it was on all night.
 
How about checking HIS machine for spyware and crap?

Do you guys have a firewall ?
 
Imprimis_Obscurity said:
Because first my parents need to wake up and start listening to pros like myself. My dad only knows how to get on AOL, check his mail and play online solitaire. I don't want a dedicated connection because it isn't practical, plus I refuse to pay another $35 a month for it.


living in your fantasy world and calling yourself a "pro" when you can't identify the bottleneck of your network is half your problem.

if the problem is only when he is using the pc online it may very well be that you are stealing all the bandwidth.

this sounds like a problem that a "pro" like yourself should know already and not waste the time of the [H] forum to prove a useless point.

B
 
am i the only person who doesn't understand how solitare can be played with others online?

anyways, yeah, he may be wrong about your video card slowing his machine down (just a little bit). but you don't say that you are using a router, but a wireless bridge to his pc and his pc using windows internet connection sharing? if his computer is routing a shitload of bt or kazaa packets, he might notice something screwy with his connection.

it's his internet connection, so abide by his rules. better still, it's his house, so abide by his rules. sure, we'll be happy to educate him or trouble shoot your network, just don't be a whiny brat about it.
 
A if father is willing to pay, get your own modem and never think about it again, your seperate from them dont even network the comptuers.

If you have mass amounts of down loading and up loading you may be taking up most of the band with, (then again shouldnt your bandwith be restricted by the fact that your on a wireless? unless you have a kick ass set up)

firs he should check his computer, look for spy and addwhere, if you have a cable modem there is no point in paying for aol (they can still use aim, they just dont get that other shit, and its not like they are using the parental controles for when ever you may just happen to use their pc)

as i read above, kill your pc for a day and dont tell them and see if its still a problem. If it is then its either his pc, or the server that simple.
 
Imprimis_Obscurity said:
They don't allow installing programs on their computer, unless it directly benefits them


not all spyware gets installed with the user knowing.
 
BriguyNJ said:
am i the only person who doesn't understand how solitare can be played with others online?

I'm wondering about that too hehe.
And I second BriguyNJ, do you have a router or internet connection sharing through his machine via windows?
 
I have a wireless router, with 4 ethernet ports. The computer downstairs is hooked up via an ethernet cable, the one upstairs is the wireless computer.

About the solitaire. I think he just plays a flash version of solitaire. He plays on a site called "pogo.com" I think it is. Even though he doesn't play with others, I think others can still watch. He plays games online but they are all crap games. They are the games that come with the computer, like internet backgammon, solitaire and internet hearts. Then he plays those flash games off pogo.

BTW he is going to make me pay for an extra line, that is why I am opposed to it so much. That line will cost me $35 a month. I just don't have that money to toss around like that.
 
You using Kazaa and emule is your problem. P2P apps, such as emule, rely on user uploads in order to gain credits for downloads. Uploading severely craps out your bandwidth. Even uploading a few KB/sec is enough to do some damage.
 
yeah.. i forgot to mention that upload bandwidth rapes your overall speed... on my comcast i can download at 400kb/s but i can only upload like 100kb/s .. if i get my bittornado windows going... i may only be uploading 5kb/s through each one.. but they slow down my connection a lot... therefore i set them to only run at night... kazaa is fine.. you just check "i don't want to share my files with others"
 
Have you thought about the wireless connection not being strong enough to reach the router that is downstairs? Whenever you go though walls and things like that the quality of the signal is is going to get degraded a little bit. Also alot of those SOHO routers, and cards don't always have the best antennas, and transmitting power.

Also check for spyware, and viruses on both computers, make sure windows updates are all installed. Update drivers for the wireless card, and the firmware on the router if you can. Disable any P2P software, and don't allow uploading if you do use it.
 
Also I'm not quite sure how getting a seperate cable modem for your computer is going to help. You're still going to share the same piece of coax cable coming into your house with your father no matter how many cable modems you get.
 
scottatwittenberg said:
yeah.. i forgot to mention that upload bandwidth rapes your overall speed... on my comcast i can download at 400kb/s but i can only upload like 100kb/s .. if i get my bittornado windows going... i may only be uploading 5kb/s through each one.. but they slow down my connection a lot... therefore i set them to only run at night... kazaa is fine.. you just check "i don't want to share my files with others"

You can upload at 100kb/sec? wtf? What kind of service plan do you have with Comcast? Plain jane residential? Coz their default service plan is like, 3Mbps / 256Kbps. I can download at 400KB/sec, but upload nowhere NEAR 100KB/sec... I get around 30KB/sec upstream.
 
yeah p2p really lowers bandwidth, maybe you can turn off uploading when your dad uses the comp. If they won't let you check their comp for spyware, tell em it's their problem, and that is what is slowing it down.
 
Your parents are right until you move out. My opinion is your dad should whack your box off the network until you learn how to monitor your own bandwidth. Something tells me those arent all school e-books and educational videos you have the line crushed with.

Learn how to use things like ms scheduler, go through google to see how much shit has wreaked havoc on your superkazaa/morpheous/cometcursor/bonzibuddy box and make your downloading habits as transparent to your folks before old dad decides to hire someone like a few of us in to do some port filtering and ruin your fun.

my .02
 
Imprimis_Obscurity said:
Because first my parents need to wake up and start listening to pros like myself. My dad only knows how to get on AOL, check his mail and play online solitaire. I don't want a dedicated connection because it isn't practical, plus I refuse to pay another $35 a month for it.

Heh ... if my kid say that to me ... it won't just be the internet connection, but the whole computer will disppear from her reach ... :rolleyes:

If you are such a "PRO", find out what causes the slowdown on his machine and deal with it ...
 
Imprimis_Obscurity said:
Because first my parents need to wake up and start listening to pros like myself. My dad only knows how to get on AOL, check his mail and play online solitaire. I don't want a dedicated connection because it isn't practical, plus I refuse to pay another $35 a month for it.
Reality check:

- You aren't a pro.
- Your parents PAY for THEIR connection, which THEY are nice enough to let YOU use.
- If your father wants you on your own connection, for 35 bucks a month, welcome to the real world. It's called: Personal responsibility. I am sure you find some way to make a little over a buck extra a DAY to pay for this, if it's important enough for you.

Now, were you a pro, you might know that those p2p programs tend to be rather noisy, even when waiting in a queue, they are still eating up a fair chunk of bandwidth. Further, were you a pro, you'd know how to use, say, linux to throttle your services so your father always has priority over you. Of course, were you a pro, you wouldn't be whining about "daddy"'s ignorance, and you'd already have a plan in place to fix the problem, without relying on other people to reaffirm your belief that you are right.
 
Imprimis_Obscurity said:
Because first my parents need to wake up and start listening to pros like myself.


If you are a pro, what the hell are you doing on here asking for help for?
 
PicoFaradPJF said:
Also I'm not quite sure how getting a seperate cable modem for your computer is going to help. You're still going to share the same piece of coax cable coming into your house with your father no matter how many cable modems you get.


Because the coax is not where slow downs are going to happen most of the time. The issue is when one maxes out the up or downstream bandwidth that the cable modem is capped at. On a cable network you are sharing bandwidth with everyone that is in you node. There can be hundreds of people sharing the same cable lines. The caps that are set on each modem is what keeps the coax in the area from getting saturated.
 
It is your downloading :rolleyes: Even if you just idle/que you can kill your bandwidth.

Do you allow uploads?
 
Gertrude said:
Because the coax is not where slow downs are going to happen most of the time. The issue is when one maxes out the up or downstream bandwidth that the cable modem is capped at. On a cable network you are sharing bandwidth with everyone that is in you node. There can be hundreds of people sharing the same cable lines. The caps that are set on each modem is what keeps the coax in the area from getting saturated.

I must need more sleep today, I can't believe something that obvious didn't occur to me.
:D
 
versello said:
my daddy would knock me silly if i said "yo...[mah computa be off, beetch]"

Damn. That was really funny.


Imprimis,

While your dad is most likely wrong about the video card slowing down your computer and causing the slowdown on your network, he is probably right about the fact that it is SOMETHING you're doing that is causing the slow down. Most likely, as everyone has pointed out, it's your downloads/uploads that are killing the bandwidth.

That said, if it were my dad and I was mooching off his connection, I'd ask him what a good time would be to fire up my P2P software or whatever it is I was downloading with. Until that time, I'd keep it turned off. I'd also let him know that he might have spyware or a virus on his PC which is slowing him down, and could be doing a lot more than just that (...sending his financial data to a hacker somewhere...).

If he doesn't want you on his computer, thats fine. He's got every right not to. Instead of calling him out on his ignorance of the situation, I'd just gather the facts to show it's not you causing the slow down (which in this case, it is most likely you), and I'd offer to teach him some things he might not know. But, that's just me...and my dad would knock the snot out of me if I talked to him like he was ignorant. On the same note, my dad would also be more than willing to listen if offered to teach him something he might not know, and I was not a smartass about it.

Other than that, assuming your dad is going to make you conform to his rules, it seems like your only options are to:
A) Stop using your P2P programs until he says it's ok for you to use them
B) Join the rest of the post-adolescent world and pay for your own connection
 
versello said:
You can upload at 100kb/sec? wtf? What kind of service plan do you have with Comcast? Plain jane residential? Coz their default service plan is like, 3Mbps / 256Kbps. I can download at 400KB/sec, but upload nowhere NEAR 100KB/sec... I get around 30KB/sec upstream.

ok.. that might explain it even better.. mine probably is that slow.. but i never really had anything to clock it with, i was just guessing
 
Ibanez3434 said:
Even Pro's have to ask quistions. Jeez.

Yes I agree .... but a pro will ask for solutions to a problem ... not to show their parents that they are right ... :rolleyes:
 
Yeah but I have been on networked computers where there are 20 computers hooked up and everyone is on, and I haven't noticed a slowdown.
 
I skimmed through the thread but I didn't notice anyone suggest the obvious:

Have you tried hooking your dad's computer directly to the cable modem and simply taking yours off for a while? If taking off your computer offline speeds up you dad's hardcore office gaming, then you're at fault, obviously not your video card, but still having to do with your stuff.
 
Imprimis_Obscurity said:
Yeah but I have been on networked computers where there are 20 computers hooked up and everyone is on, and I haven't noticed a slowdown.

I've been at lans where there are over 1000 people on, connections matter.

Try the things suggested or live with it.
 
I tried the speedtest with the upstairs on and off. I tried it with it off a couple of times, and kept getting different speeds. It ranged from 2167.7 Kbs to 32105 KBs, which is unbelievably fast. So I don't really know if those tests are accurate. BTW I didn't use the speed test the one person above gave me. I used Cnet's test.
 
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