Windows 10 Pro sluggish internet

[jamsandwich]

I've been using my Windows 10 Pro pc to surf the web on a daily basis for years, mostly without a problem. However, over the past few weeks it has become incredibly sluggish. Typically I'll open a browser window and then wait about 40 seconds (I guess) just for a web page to download.

This happens in both Firefox and Chrome (incognito) with a variety of websites (duckduckgo, youtube, ebay, pretty much any website I choose from my bookmarks). It's like the old days of dial-up connections (possibly worse).

This is via a fiber broadband which works fine on other machines (I worked from home all day using a different machine). I therefore think it's my pc, not the broadband connection.

This problem is really irritating. I haven't changed anything in the hardware. I can only guess that it might be due to a software update (presumably a Windows update) that has somehow changed something to cause this behaviour.

Has anyone else had a similar problem and managed to solve it?

[woody1]

I'd start by comparing this on the bad vs good machine.

C:\>ping -n 100 www.bbc.com

If the stats look similar, then it's not the network layer.

On the bad machine, try entering the IP address* (displayed by ping) as a URL in the browser. Does it come back with a 404 straight away or do you get a delay?

* eg. 212.58.236.130

[WTFH]

When did you last soft reboot it?

[Snooky]

I assume you've run full checks for viruses, trojans and other malware? Also, disable or remove all browser extensions and see if that changes anything - although it's unlikely to affect both Firefox and Chrome, unless you have the same extension in both.

[ladymuck]

Still worth rebooting the router even if other devices surf ok. Might have a stale record if you use it for DHCP

May also be worth doing ipconfig /flushdns and ipconfig /renew (or renew6 if using IPv6).

[jamsandwich]

I tend to ensure that my pc has the latest windows updates. I also regularly flush the dns cache and run CCleaner. I do most of my browsing in either Firefox (configured not to remember history) or Chrome incognito.

I hardly use any browser extentions. I think I've got one in Chrome and none in Firefox.

I shutdown Windows when I've finished using the machine. I think that is classed as "hard reboot" (when I power it on the next time). If "soft reboot" means "Restart Windows" then I do that occasionally but nowhere near as often as "Shut down".

I suppose it could maybe be a browser update. Then again probably not, because I think both Firefox and Chrome were going slow.

I tried unpluggin the modem (people seem to call them "router" but I thought that was simply a network switch?), waiting 20 seconds (actually probably more like 1 minute) but that didn't solve the problem.

I tried pinging google on the night it last happened. The response was in the hundreds (milliseconds?) whereas on the machine I'd been using for work it was about 10 or 11 ms (althought that might have been the next day). A day or two later I did a "Restart Windows" (soft reboot?). I've not had the problem since then, and pinging google returned responses within about 10 to 17ms. Maybe the soft reboot fixed it.

The problem has occurred intermittently over the past few months. If it happens again I think the first thing I'll try is "Restart Windows" (as opposed to "Shut down"). Thanks for the comments.

[woody1]

I tried pinging google on the night it last happened. The response was in the hundreds (milliseconds?) whereas on the machine I'd been using for work it was about 10 or 11 ms (althought that might have been the next day). A day or two later I did a "Restart Windows" (soft reboot?). I've not had the problem since then, and pinging google returned responses within about 10 to 17ms. Maybe the soft reboot fixed it.

I'd check this if it happens again. Round-trip times in the hundreds of milliseconds will really degrade the browsing experience.

[ladymuck]

Is it worth checking if there's an update for your network adapter? Have you tried WiFi vs ethernet?

[gables]

I tried pinging google on the night it last happened. The response was in the hundreds (milliseconds?) whereas on the machine I'd been using for work it was about 10 or 11 ms (althought that might have been the next day). A day or two later I did a "Restart Windows" (soft reboot?). I've not had the problem since then, and pinging google returned responses within about 10 to 17ms. Maybe the soft reboot fixed it.

Might be related to the "fast boot" option as this affects the "shutdown" option which is not as you think when "fast boot" is enabled (default), basically it's a hibernate-like state where everything is written to disk to enable a faster reboot, a restart though is a much cleaner restart and hence possibly why this worked for you.

Google Windows 10 shutdown vs restart or Windows 10 fast boot and make your mind up.

Personally I'd disable it if you want to shutdown and power off your PC, in fact I'd just disable it :-)

[jamsandwich]

Is it worth checking if there's an update for your network adapter? Have you tried WiFi vs ethernet?

I'm using a wireless usb adaptor. I tried updating the driver (via Device Manager) and it did a search and reported "The best drivers for your device are already installed".

I've ordered a Cat7 network cable. I plan to try that as an alternative to the wireless usb adaptor.