Download speed very slow on one pc

What’s more annoying than having a great wifi or Ethernet connection, but slow internet speeds? Nothing. Nothing is more annoying than that. When it happens to you—and it will, especially if you jump onto wifi access points at your favorite local businesses—you’re going to wish you could do anything to speed up your connection.

While we can’t reach out from Lifehacker Headquarters and tell your public wifi point to speed things up, nor can we tell that person next to you at the coffee shop to maybe go easy on the BitTorrent today, we can give you a few suggestions to troubleshoot, fix, or simply survive a slow internet connection.

10. Check your speeds (and your internet plan)

Sometimes, your internet connection is slow because you’re paying for crappy internet. Log onto your provider’s web site (or give them a call) and find out what plan you have. Then head on over to fast.com (or any number of alternative sites) and run a speed test. If what you’ve measured is close to what you’re paying for, then your network is working fine and your internet plan just isn’t very fast—the best way to speed it up will be to upgrade.

If your plan is speedy and your connection is not, it’s time to troubleshoot.

9. Give your hardware the universal fix

Before you go cursing your internet provider, give your modem and router a quick reset (i.e., turn them off and on again) and see if that helps. Check the other computers in your house to see if their internet is slow, too. If the problem only happens on one computer, the problem is that computer, not your router or modem.

8. Know your hardware’s limitations 

If you’re paying for a super-fast internet plan—say, a fiber connection that gets you a mighty 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps)—you’re never going to see those speeds if the primary wifi router in your house is some antiquated wireless-n device. Similarly, you might have an awesome wireless-ac router (with a faster-than-1 Gbps top speed), but if you’re connecting to it with an older or cheaper laptop, or even a regular PlayStation 4 gaming console, you’re going to wonder why your transfer speeds are so slow. Same deal.

We’ve talked about theseissuesextensively, so here’s the super-short version: When possible, get a great router with a lot of potential throughput (two-stream wireless-ac at least), which should generally give your speedier devices the best possible speeds (on a 5GHz wifi network, of course). If a particular device is underperforming by a significant degree, check its network specs. It might be doing the best it can, but it just can’t go any faster. Your network isn’t slow; your device just can’t keep up.

7. Fix your wifi signal 

Speaking of wifi, you might find that your router and internet are fine, but your wireless signal is weak. This can cause a slowdown—or, at minimum, a latency-filled browsing experience. In that case, you may need to reposition, tweak, and boost your router with a few tricks.

There are more than we could share in one paltry paragraph—in fact, we have a whole top 10 list just for fixing wifi, so check that out if you suspect your wireless signal is the problem. (And, yes, there are plenty of free apps you can use to check signal problems and see how well your router handles the rest of your concrete house.)

6. Turn off or limit bandwidth-hogging apps 

If your hardware seems to be in working order, see if any other programs are hogging the connection. For example, if you’re downloading files with BitTorrent, regular web browsing is going to be slower. You should also try installing extensions like AdBlock Plus and Privacy Badger, which will block some of the bandwidth-hogging ads, animations, and videos that can use up your connection. (You can also try a different browser entirely, like the privacy-minded Brave.)

File-syncing services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive might be moving data in the background, which can eat up your bandwidth and slow down your internet connection. Check these, and other bandwidth-hungry apps (like your favorite digital download services for games) to see if you can limit their download and upload rates, which might free up room for you to browse the web and catch up on your Netflix queue without issue.

Computers often download necessary updates in the background. Depending on your operating system, you configure your PC to schedule updates when you’re not using your computer. Better yet, you might be able to limit the bandwidth it uses, in case its hogging up your connection (for the most noble of intentions).