Windows 7 - Ready to shoot PC, or myself. :( Please help...

Nothing but PC problems last 2 weeks and completely unable to do any work at home. Writing my book after quitting my job and NOTHING done this last 2 weeks.
SO STINKING frustrated. So unproductive. And not a PC whiz. PLEASE help me!

Couple weeks ago my Dell Optiplex GX620 started freezing in the middle of work, causing reboots, and major signs of dying. Backed everything up at iDrive, and good thing because then she died. Got it working again to surf Internet for about an hour or two at a time before further crashes, not much else.

Researched online and decided to go cheap until I could afford a premium unit, so bought an eMachine which was: Desktop / AMD Athlon™ II X2 Processor / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive / NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE graphics.

I was unaware that the eMachine would not support dual monitors, so I returned it and bought a brand new HP that did. This model has been out for only a month or 2 at most, and I thought I was going a little more "premium", as it was double the cost of my cheap eMachine. I figured I would just man up (girl up) and get a good PC. After returning the eMachine, this new HP I was buying had absolutely everything I needed!

Well, now the Internet connection is so absurdly slow that it makes it impossible to work. BOTH my old Dell and the returned eMachine had Internet speeds and download speeds that were 100 times faster than this "premium" PC! I frequently download different resources and programs to help in my research, and a fast Internet connection and fast download speeds are an absolute and unquestionable necessity for me.

What I don't understand is that every spec on this PC is superior to either of the former PC's I had, of which those PC's surfed the Internet and downloaded at lightning speeds compared to this. I can go to sites like seattletimes.com or miamiherald.com and it will take 5 minutes to load! How can this be???

I have no wireless network, or routers, etc. I have a direct cable modem to PC connection, and it is slow as molasses. How is that possible in a brand new PC in 2011?!

I was so thrilled to get this PC because it has everything I need and is superior in specs to any I've ever had. Now, I want to cry. Can anyone PLEASE help me? I am going into 2 weeks of failure and incompetence because of PC troubles.

From system info:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
System Model p6774y
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 840T Processor, 2900 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 6.04, 9/7/2010
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 5.75 GB
Available Physical Memory 3.98 GB
Total Virtual Memory 11.5 GB
Available Virtual Memory 9.30 GB
Page File Space 5.75 GB

I am not particularly tech or PC savvy, but do have basic knowledge and understanding, and can figure stuff out usually! After an hour or 2 online, I usually find a solution, but not today. Today I need a kind and compassionate expert to help me.

Please help me!

OK, until the networking experts tune in (which I am not), lets do some simple things.

1. Right click on the network icon in the taskbar (bottom right) and open the Network and Sharing canter
2. In the left pane of the N&S center, click on "Change Adaptor settings"
3. In adaptor settings, right click on "Local Area Connection" and click on "Status"
4. Take a snip of this little window and post it here.

Then right click again on the network icon in the tasktray and click on " Troubleshoot Problems" - see what that yields.

OK, don't panic!

Run this;


Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test

tell us what it tells you.

After it runs, ( only takes a few seconds ) you should get a box like this with the relevant information;



Regards....Mike Connor

THANK you whs-

IPv4 Connectivity: Internet
IPv6 Connectivity: No Network Access
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Scootch/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Scootch/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.png[/IMG]Media State: Enabled
Duration: 01:40:55 (and counting)
Speed: 100.0 Mbps

Bytes: Sent 5,824,775 Rcv'd 19,305,453

I had already run troubleshoot to no avail. It says it tested the connection and verified I'm able to access some websites.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike C- Thank you. I will do it now...

HP has a bloatware connection manager which adds 30 seconds to startup time and can throttle connection. Try turning it off to connect directly to your cable modem from Windows 7.

Check optional Windows updates for newer cable modem driver.

How is it listed in Device Manager under Network Adapters. What is the exact device name and driver version and date?

Now click on Update Driver tab and try to Auto update. Driver Install - Device Manager

Here are more general tips to clean up the HP bloatware which can slow Windows 7: HP laptop has used up all four primary partitions

Hope this works...

Gregrocker- I am going to try to figure out how to do what you advise. Don't know if it is relevant, but my eMachine I had for the last 10 days (until trading it for this today) also had Windows 7 pre-installed, and I had none of these problems...

eMachine does not have a connection manager, but allows you to connect directly to the internet from Windows 7.

HP lards their machines with so much sponsored bloatware that it takes work to clean it all off to let Windows 7 run freely.

Steps to clean up bloatware.

Whenever I clean up an HP the first thing I turn off is the Connection Manager, then uncheck everything in msconfig except AV, which should be lightweight MS Security Essentials or Avast.

Hmm, it's not all that fast, but it should be more than adequate for what you want.

Have a look here;

HP Getting connected with mobile broadband

Play this HP tutorial on broadband connections; ( It's twelve pages, flip them by pressing "Next" on the lower right )

Getting connected with mobile broadband

HP can be a bit of a pain with some stuff, as gregrocker pointed out.

But there can also be other reasons for slow connections.

Regards....Mike Connor

GR-
You asked, "How is it listed in Device Manager under Network Adapters. What is the exact device name and driver version and date"
There is a 802.11n Wireless LAN Card and Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller. I went to update and both said it was the latest version.

Strangely (or maybe it's not strange at all), I am not seeing my Ubee brand Modem hardware listed anywhere at all. Should I be seeing that?