Slow browsing

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by AlanYork

Right, thanks for that, I'll do that Friday as work beckons and theyre 12 hour night shifts!! I'm assuming that I don't need to have the site open? Firefox I have now downloaded and will be trying it. I looked on google for the list of UK proxies...jeez theres thousands of sites!!! Do you have a recommendation for a novice as to which site is best?


Thanks again for the help with this, I wish I could do the ping tests now but like I said, I have a 12 hr night shift in front of me and as things are working fine at present, I'd really rather start testing when I'm "fresh" lol.

If you could recommend the best proxy site, the one that you expert types use, that'd be a big help though.

Thanks again for all your help, hope you all have a lovely evening.

Your best bet for a list of NTL proxies is the link that Mal posted in post #2.

I'm assuming that you're using a USB connection to your computer, right? If so, you may find that converting to Ethernet (if you have Ethernet on your PC) will give you better speeds. You might also want to consider uninstalling that c*appy BroadBand Medic software, that won't be helping matters either.

There's plenty of posts already on CF about changing from USB to Ethernet, and also about removing Medic, but if you decide to go for it and you need any help just shout!

[AlanYork]

Thanks, I'm already on ethernet, I got rid of BB Medic, it was useless....now don't laugh...that site was a list of places of proxy servers. I didn't understand. I thought a proxy was a series of 4 groups of numbers and a port. I click on Internet properties, LAN, tick the box, put in the numbers and port, click OK and the job is done.

On Mals site I see.... brnt-cache-6.server.ntli.net
brnt-cache-7.server.ntli.net

To be honest, I'm still learning and that might as well be in French, what am I supposed to do with it? It's not that I'm a thickie, it's just that I'm still learning and whilst I've come on in leaps and bounds over the last 3 months, mainly thanks to the help and generosity of you guys, I have to say I'm stumped here.

I should say that I am using the proxy and port 80, and its set to automatically detect settings but not use an automatic configuration script (whatever the hell one of them is!!)

Originally Posted by AlanYork

Thanks, I'm already on ethernet, I got rid of BB Medic, it was useless....now don't laugh...that site was a list of places of proxy servers. I didn't understand. I thought a proxy was a series of 4 groups of numbers and a port. I click on Internet properties, LAN, tick the box, put in the numbers and port, click OK and the job is done.

On Mals site I see.... brnt-cache-6.server.ntli.net
brnt-cache-7.server.ntli.net

To be honest, I'm still learning and that might as well be in French, what am I supposed to do with it? It's not that I'm a thickie, it's just that I'm still learning and whilst I've come on in leaps and bounds over the last 3 months, mainly thanks to the help and generosity of you guys, I have to say I'm stumped here.

I should say that I am using the proxy and port 80, and its set to automatically detect settings but not use an automatic configuration script (whatever the hell one of them is!!)

using the 'numbers' version of the proxy address (called the IP) avoids problems where the DNS (Domain Name Server) which 'translates' a name such as 'www.bbc.co.uk' into the IP, isn't working properly.

In practice either the number, or the name, should work - the port should be 8080

Personally I would uncheck, 'automatically detect settings'...

[AlanYork]

So I can, in effect, copy and paste the names of the servers, as printed on that list, into my LAN, use port 8080, uncheck "automatically detect settings" and off I go??? Please feel free to verbally slap me around if I've misinterpreted here but that seems to be what you're saying, yes?

Just out of interest, what difference will unchecking "automatically detect settings" make? I've always had it ticked as it appears to be the default setting.

Still, that seems to have resolved that issue for me, assuming I read you right, and it's great because being still a novice, I've learned something there.

One a wider level though, I am concerned at the fact that NTL were unable to resolve the issue and what I did forget to add was that this isn't the first time it's happened. Exactly the same thing happened a few months ago and again NTL Tech support suggested it was my PC at fault. It was shiny and new then, in fact I even took it back to the shop, they gave it a pretty thorough check over and pronounced it adware free, trojan free, virus free and 100% operational....surely, and correct me if I'm wrong here...I shouldn't need a proxy on my LAN? It should run fine without. All I got from Tech Support, to be honest was "well it SHOULD work...must be your PC...nothing much else we can do".... I'm paraphrasing but thats about the size of it. Well it certainly aint my PC, I use it for internet browsing, IM Messenger, e mail and the occasional game, hardly asking a lot of it is it...if tech support insist it's not their problem, is there anywhere else one can go, further up the chain perhaps?

Well maybe thats really for another thread, just thought I'd make the observation.

Again I thank you for your generous help.

Originally Posted by AlanYork

Well I attached myself to a German server and that seems to have improved matters. That CF test seems to think its a Leeds one but it aint!! Looks like it was a server problem. I'm not really sure about proxys as everyone I talk to seems to say "oooooh........security risk".....but hopefully NTL will sort it out in due course.

The test is correct.

At the point you posted that, you were being routed via the Leeds transparent proxy array (accessing CF via leed-cache-3.server.ntli.net).

The thing that many people forget when using non ntl proxy servers is that you cannot access a foreign proxy server via port 80, as ntl will intercept it and route you via theirs - this is what transparent proxying does. Also, if you have no proxy specified then again, ntl will intecept the port 80 (http) traffic and route you via your default array (which is Leeds in your case).

BTW, Interesting list they gave you to try, the first three are ntl servers, the last one appears to be a US based server, and would fail anyway as it specifies port 80 (see above).
__________________

Originally Posted by AlanYork

So I can, in effect, copy and paste the names of the servers, as printed on that list, into my LAN, use port 8080, uncheck "automatically detect settings" and off I go???

Yes, but you can only use one at a time.

Originally Posted by AlanYork

Just out of interest, what difference will unchecking "automatically detect settings" make? I've always had it ticked as it appears to be the default setting.

It will stop IE trying to find a proxy server itself - something it will fail doing. It's more designed for internal corporate networks than home / internet setups.

[AlanYork]

Well, the proxy server is now off and normal service seems to have been resumed.....hmmm, well almost normal. I use hotmail as my e mail and every now and again it asks you to put in the series of numbers and letters it flashes up, to prove to it you're not some kind of machine sending spam I assume.

I dutifully do this and it rather surprisingly asks me to do it again, and again, and again....in fact it never seems to "see" it. To cut a long story short, eventually I call my friend in Glasgow, who also happens to be an NTL customer and he does it for me no problem at all.

It's not a major issue, other than the inconvenience, I just wondered if anyone else had come across this. It actually happens on an e card site that I am a member of too, I sign in, go to the cards and it continually asks me to sign in again. A reboot seems to have sorted that out, for how long, who knows.

On the general subject of web browsing, at present I seem to be getting little hiccups here and there, the above mentioned, the occasional syntax error, application errors every now and again.....my pc frankly appears to have a bit of a cold!!! It's coming up to 2 years old, and I know it had AOL on it before this. I've done all the obvious stuff, defrag, anti virus, anti spyware etc but still something isn't quite right. I don't fancy letting PC world get their hands on it, so is there anything I could be looking at here at home?

Anyway, browsing appears to be up to speed at least now, so thats a plus.

[sloopy]

Hi,

I've been having just the same problems - slow browsing and unable to access some sites at all - ever since installation od a SACM and upgrade to 2MB service on Friday. PINGs to some addresses showed 100% packet loss. I tried your suggestion of setting an explicit Proxy server about an hour ago and all seems to be well so far.

Thanks for the usefull advice.

[AlanYork]

I tried to look at a site today and it said "remote linking of images not allowed". I haven't got a clue as to the significance of this. I got a reply back from MSNs technical team about the signing in problem, but its the standard mix of checking your firewall, deleting temporary internet files etc. Basically, the same thing they seem to advise for every query. I'm definately not needing to use a proxy now, as sites open fine. Like I said, it's all a bit puzzling really. I really dont have the faintest idea what "remote linking of images" is, I do know that since I signed up to NTL, things don't seem to run smoothly and it seems to be fighting one problem after another. In fairness, it might not be NTLs fault, might be this old PC....I'm mystified though.