Why?

[fengzj]

I'm using mobile racks on the same desktop so that I can have different language versions of Windows.

Recently, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate (English) on a new drive, hoping to replace my XP Professional (English) eventually since it has the XP mode feature and the interface can be changed to different languages almost immediately after a short logoff.

I was downloading an 100 mb file with DownThemAll, a download manager add-on for Firefox, the speed I was getting was around 260 kb/s. I canceled the download and swapped in the XP Pro drive and downloaded the same file again which is also using DownThemAll. This time I was getting nearly 800 kb/s.

It's the same machine, identical versions of browser and plugin, yet the speed differs so dramatically.

 

[TimStitt]

Hey that's Interesting.

- Was anything updating at the same time on the WIN7 box? Microsoft updates? other hardware vendor updates? Automatic network backup?
- Perhaps the site was experiencing more users and slowed down.

 

[fengzj]

I use manual update because I'm easily annoyed by the popping up of update notifications. System restore is disabled. My Kaspersky updates at a fixed scheduled time. So it shouldn't be the issue.

Second point: It was only a matter of three minutes.

 

[Jester45]

I would have to agree with TimStitt. It was most likely to be something outside of the OS. With the internet being such is wild place 500kb/s isnt all that much of change.

My guesses are...

• Site got extra traffic between downloads
• Other programs on your machine using network (updates/backups?)
• Other network users
• Your actual connection to the ISP was slowed. (IDK what your speed should be)
• Website could of been slow in the first place but the servers cached the first part. Ex. you downloaded 20% on Win 7, your ISP cached that, then when you restarted the download on Win XP you get the ~260kb/s from the server and the ~500kb/s from the cached ISP data.

 

[fengzj]

I really wish the issue is not OS related since I invested so much on the new Windows.

 

[Dragonfly]

I'd suspect a network driver issue. On one of my Win7 boxes, I get double the download throughput if I use a Linksys WUSB600N XP driver than if I use the suggested Win7 driver. Try various network drivers for your network adapter or NIC and see if the throughput increases.

 

[fengzj]

My machine is directly connected to the modem with cat5 cable. The only difference is: I used the network driver that came with the Asus P5LD2 motherboard on XP and the "Windows installed" driver on Win 7.

 

[TimStitt]

My machine is directly connected to the modem with cat5 cable. The only difference is: I used the network driver that came with the Asus P5LD2 motherboard on XP and the "Windows installed" driver on Win 7.

I agree with everyone and I wouldn't discount driver issues, just check the manufacturer for an updated WIN7 driver. Sometimes the windows installed one is not the latest or best.

If your ISP also hosts data, download something from them under both set-up's and check the speed. As it's your ISP, there is less chance that you'll be affected by traffic. This should confirm whether or not it is a congestion issue.

 

[logicearth]

Find an updated network driver for your system then...

 

[fengzj]

Thank you all.