One major misunderstanding about dial-up is about where it can be set up. Many dial-up users do not realize that dial-up has very little restrictions on where it can be set up and how many times it can be set up. Multiple computers can have the same dial-up connection, even computers away from home. As long as only one of the connections is being used at one time, you will be able to connect from almost anywhere in the US. A dial-up connection is simply a collection of information a computer needs to establish and authorize a connection with your ISP—a local access number, username, and password. Your ISP should be able to give you an access number for nearly any location, so if you go on vacation or visit friends out of town, you can still set up a dial-up connection.

Another common misunderstanding about dial-up is how easy it is to create a new connection. Many people think you cannot set up a dial-up connection without a software download or a CD from the ISP. You can actually set up a new connection on any computer that has a dial-up modem without any company software. All computers come with an Internet connection set up wizard or adjustable network settings where you can input your username and password, etc. The software your ISP provides is simply using those components on your computer. It is fairly simple to set up the connection on your own, providing you have all the information it will ask you for, like a local access number. ISP connection software is provided for the sake of being user friendly, but it can also provide an advertising venue and run unnecessary programs on your computer, even after the service has been cancelled.

A third common dial-up misunderstanding is of the cause for various connection speeds. There are very few things that can affect your dial-up connection speed: The dial-up modem, the phone line, and the access number. For example, newer modems have better compression technology that can significantly alter the ability for your connection speed to increase. A phone line that is poorly wired, aged, or a far distance from the phone company can cause some users to have a worse connection than someone else using the same service with better phone line conditions. Access numbers can be heavily used or originate some distance from the user and also slow Internet connections. There are some software downloads that you can use to increase page loading speed or image compression, but they cannot increase your actual connection speed (kbps).

Understanding how dial-up works can sometimes help you get the most out of your dial-up connection, open doors to new opportunities, and help you get the fastest connection possible for your computer. Ask your ISP if you have more questions about your dial-up Internet service. They can show you how to manually set up a connection, give you more access numbers, and help you learn more about how to improve your Internet service.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net. Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

Microsoft has been extremely influential in the growth and use of computers and Internet service. Since the very early stages of computer development, Microsoft has been creating products that were adopted by software and computer designers, which promoted the growth of acceptance as a standard for operating systems (OS’s) among computer users. Microsoft holds nearly 90 percent of the market share for operating systems used today! The majority of computers sold today have a Microsoft’s operating system, Windows, installed on their computer.

Before Windows operating systems were developed, computer ran with DOS, or, disk operating system. Basically it was just a black screen with white characters and a cursor. Users would type commands or use keyboard shortcuts and prompts (like Ctrl+Alt+Delete) to perform all computer tasks.

For example, to open a program or perform a task, you would type a combination of letters on your keyboard and press “Return” or “Enter”. The program or task would open a similar page with more white characters on a black screen. You could navigate through the options with arrow keys, or type another command to exit or open another command. A cursor would indicate where you can type more commands. The display upon turning on the computer was in a linear format, so you could only perform one task at a time. Previous commands would be higher on the page, disappearing off the top of the page and new commands  displayed underneath.

You can still see and use the original DOS display format and perform tasks that can now be done with mouse clicks. To open the DOS command window, click Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt. Type “control” and push enter. This will open your Control Panel window. Close the Window

Microsoft bought MS-DOS (Microsoft-Disk Operating System) in the early 80’s, and this was the beginning of the operating systems the majority of computers use today.

GUI, or graphical user interface was a significant development that changed the way we compute. Graphics, like colors, desktop display, icons, and buttons would replace DOS text commands. Instead of typing a combination of letters and hitting “Enter”, you now just double click an icon with a mouse.

Although the first GUI display on mid-80’s computer fade in comparison to today’s high resolution, colors, and animation, it was a big improvement from the black screen with white letters! This is where the Windows operating systems we know today began.

The name “Windows” represents the transition from DOS format to GUI format. Programs and settings now open in its own frame, or window, which means that you can switch back and forth from one programs to another, and as technology improved, have multiple windows open and running at the same time.

The latest Windows operating systems are astounding and complex in comparison to their late 80’s, early 90’s predecessors. As each new system was released, computers were faster, more colorful and aesthetically-appealing, safer, and easier to use (that is, except for the time it takes to learn new methods and layouts!).

In October of 2009, Microsoft released Windows 7, a crisp, fast, safe, and elegant OS that is hardly recognizable in comparison to the first GUI operating system from 20 years ago, Windows 3.0. For more information about the versions and features of Windows operating systems, go to microsoft.com.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

When you get a dial-up service, perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of a slower connection is that few antivirus programs are simple enough to download and update themselves on dial-up. But you still have to have an antivirus program! So what can you do?

Fortunately, there are several antivirus programs that appeal to dial-up users not only for their simplicity, but because they are free!  You don’t have to pay a cent to download and install these programs. They install updates of new malware threats, etc., and scan your computer for viruses, just like subscription antivirus programs. The most popular of these free programs is AVG Anti-virus, the Free Edition, and Avast Anti-virus.

So why are these programs free? Well, the free programs are very basic, and these companies do offer subscription versions of these programs (and recommend you to upgrade, of course!). Also, you will probably not get technical support (at least, not live) with these programs, nor will you often be able have a free installation CD to be shipped to you from the company.

These free programs aren’t as all-inclusive as an expensive subscription program that covers every imaginable aspect of Internet and computer protection. However, these large paid programs will not only take up a large amount of space on your hard drive, but they also might not download the installation files and updates it requires to work properly on your dial-up connection.

Many of these programs’ updates takes up to 6 or more hours on a dial-up connection. This is most likely never going to download at all, because most dial-up services drop your connection after 4 or more hours because of a maximum online time regulation. Even if your ISP had no such regulation, dial-up connection can drop a connection unexpectedly for other reasons, like problems with the modem or phone line. Of course, then you would have to restart your download, and the whole hassle would take days and you would not be sufficiently protected in those times.

Download.com has ratings, reviews, and descriptions of a plethora of free downloads where you can compare and install various free antivirus programs. You can run a search for “free anti-virus programs” to see all the available anti-virus programs. On the home page, if you scroll down to the heading “Most Popular Downloads”, you’ll see the two free anti-virus programs listed above.

If you do want to download AVG or Avast, you should probably just go straight to download.com, because the websites of these programs will actually redirect you to download.com anyway.

It is usually possible to download free antivirus programs with most dial-up connections. It is also possible that the initial download could take several hours or require several attempts. If you have too much trouble, you may need to quickly download the installation file to a flash drive at work, a restaurant, or the library using their broadband connection. Then you can take the file home and install it on your computer in a few minutes.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

Perhaps the biggest challenge for dial-up users is downloading updates on Windows computers. When everything takes ten times longer, getting daily updates for your computer or antivirus program can be a cumbersome task.  If you want to surf quickly on the Internet or have a large download to do, the last thing you want to do is share that precious little bandwidth with your updates. However, failing to do these important updates can put your computer at risk because you didn’t download a security patch. It can also cause your computer to run slowly because it is missing an important fix or upgrade for the operating system. So even as frustrating as these may be, these downloads really are helpful and necessary.

Here are a few tips if you are struggling to keep up with antivirus updates and windows updates:

*Schedule your antivirus scans and updates. You can often adjust when your antivirus uses your system resources and bandwidth in effort to avoid doing so when you want to use the Internet. You should find these setting in the advanced options of your antivirus program. Refer to the manual, website, or tech support line if you need more help with this step.

*Don’t turn off updates. As tempting as it might be to just turn off updates so you don’t have to take the time to download them, this will only cause the necessary updates for your computer to pile up until you turn them on again. If you don’t regularly update your computer, catching up on updates could take days on a dial-up connection. In the meantime, your computer is at risk and may not be able to keep up with normal functions and web applications.

*Adjust your Windows updates settings. You can set up your Windows updates so that you will be prompted when an update is available. This way you can ensure that you choose when to download an update, instead of your computer taking over and running installation while you are using the computer for other things.  You will still easily see when a new update is available.

*Take turns. If you know that your antivirus has a new update ready, you can temporarily stop windows updates from downloading. Your antivirus should take first priority, because if your connection is interrupted, the download has to start over. If you download your antivirus updates as soon as you connect to the Internet, you are more likely to get it to download successfully the first time. You can then turn on, or start the download for your Windows updates afterward, because these downloads can be interrupted and will resume the next time you connect to the Internet.

*Update overnight. You can connect to the Internet just before you go to bed, then start your updates. This way, it doesn’t matter how long they take or how much bandwidth they take up because you aren’t sitting there waiting on them.

*Download at another location. If you have a laptop and travel with it occasionally, you could turn off automatic updates and then manually download them every time you are at a place with free wireless or another form of broadband. Then you can quickly update every few weeks in a few minutes instead of trying to do them at home.

If you ever want to check whether your computer has all the updates that are available for your computer, simply go to http://www.update.microsoft.com (make sure you are using Internet Explorer) and your computer will automatically be scanned for any possible updates. You can pick what updates you want by choosing a custom installation, or you can just download everything (which is recommended by Windows).

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

The Internet provides a vast variety of entertainment. Its options are nearly endless and is expanding and improving daily. With the development of broadband services, the gaming and entertainment world online has revolutionized from its early beginnings only a short decade ago. Many people, unfortunately, do not have access to broadband and many real-time online games require higher speeds than dial-up can provide.

One type of popular online games today are role playing games, or RPG's. This means that each player is playing the part of a character in a virtual world. Many times, the game sequences in real time, and dozens or even hundreds of people can also play the same game from all over the world, and the events of the game are happening at the same time for everyone. Dial-up and other slow connections often cannot display passing events in real time because of latency, the delay experienced because of long loading times. RPG's can be played on dial-up if it is not in real time, or if the graphics are simple and easy enough for dial-up to load. An example of this is GuildWars.com.

There are many fun and engaging games that can be played on a dial-up connection, many of which are very popular for dial-up and broadband users alike. The key to finding a dial-up compatible game is to look for flash games. Flash games are games that are loaded by adobe flash player and are run from the website itself. This means that once the game is loaded, it runs completely without using your Internet connection. Usually, flash games do not require you to leave the webpage you are on when it loads. The means you can play the games offline! The following are some websites that offer free online flash games that work great with dial-up Internet connections:

* Addictinggames.com

* Flashgames247.com

* Games.Yahoo.com

* Miniclip.com

* Popcap.com

These are only a few of the hundreds of gaming websites. Other gaming websites can be found by searching for “flash games” or “free online games” on a search engine like google.

The games may take much longer to load on dial-up than they would on broadband connections, but once they do, you can play for hours without experiencing any problems because of having a slow connection. In fact, you can even disconnect from the Internet after the game has loaded, and continue playing the game from the cached webpage. This means that you don't have to tie up your phone line in order to play for extended periods of time.

Here are a few other tricks and tips:

• Save your favorite games to your bookmarks or favorites list so you can access them quickly.

• Load a new game on a separate window while you play another game. This way, you don't have to sit and wait for the new game to load. It can load in the background while you are playing on another window.

• There are hundreds of gaming websites, and some are better quality or load games more quickly than others. If you find a game you like, but the game window is very small or takes too long to load, run a search query for that game's name to find other websites that have that game. Chances are, you'll find a website that plays the game better than the other one.

• Minimize a game window rather than closing it. This way, if you have other work to do or need to leave the computer for some time, you can set your computer to “Stand by” and come back later. You can then open the window you have minimized and your game will still be there. You won't have to start over or wait for it to load again.

Don't let having dial-up get you down, there's still so much fun to be had!

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

Every time your computer opens a webpage, it requests to retrieve pictures, images, and other data from a website to your computer. This process can take some time, especially on heavily loaded websites or if you're using a slow Internet connection like dial-up. To save time and be more efficient, your computer saves many of the files that download from each website to your harddrive. This makes several things possible:

* When you revisit a site you have already been to, your computer needs only to search for new information or changes to the website, and load all of the identical features (like images, logos, and layouts that don't change) from your computer.

* Sites you visit frequently will load because it does not need to re-download the entire site, every time you visit.

* When you click the “back”, “forward”, and “refresh” buttons on your browser toolbar, you can quickly reload pages you are currently visiting.

* Features like “History” used temporary Internet files to keep track of sites you visited recently, in case you want to go back to something you visited earlier that day or up to several weeks ago.

* You can view entire “stored” websites on your browser when you are not on the Internet. They may not have the most up-to-date information, but you will still be able to view information and use features that were loaded from a previous online visit.

* Some websites that have browser-based flash games can be played offline, because the temporary Internet files have saved this content to your computer. This means you can play some of your favorite games for hours without using online time on your Internet service.

Temporary Internet files are not always a good thing. It's nice to save the information from websites you visit frequently, but eventually, your computer will be full of saved files from hundreds of websites you only visited once and may not visit again. There is no need to keep this information.

Many times a technician will direct you to your Internet Options and have you delete all your temporary Internet files and cookies in order to free your browser of the clutter of all this unnecessary saved information from visited sites over time. This sometimes helps browsers run faster, and aviod error messages like “This page cannot be displayed”, etc.

This can be a quick fix that you can do if you are having problems with your browser. It may not solve your problem, but it never hurts to try—plus, cleaning out your browser is a good thing to do—especially if you do a lot of surfing.

• First, click Tools at the top of your browser.
• Then click “Internet Options” (or maybe “Options” if you are not using Internet Explorer)
• Then look for “Browsing History” or Temporary Internet Files”. Click the Delete or Delete Files button.
• If you click Delete, you will see a list of different types of stored information on your computer. You can select which you prefer to delete from here.

If you are using a browser other than Internet Explorer, the options will look slightly different. If you cannot find what you are looking for, you will find step by step instructions for most browsers on websites like wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache. Also, there are many downloadable tools that clean your computer of Internet files and cookies regularly that are stored deep in your computer that will still remain behind after a manual delete described above. This is usually not necessary unless you need to make sure no one ever knows what websites you have visited.

Many browsers now offer the ability to surf the Internet without saving any information to your computer in the first place. Internet Explorer 8's “In-Private Browsing”, Firefox's “Private Browsing”, Chrome's “Incognito Mode”, are all the same concept—surf the Internet without leaving a trace on your computer. This is one of the best ways to surf privately and not allow anyone to retrieve the information later.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

You may be in for a surprise if you're planning to sign up for dial-up Internet. Although dial-up modems were always installed on computers in the past, many computers are now being sold without them. In order to avoid having problems once you're paying for Internet services, you should check whether your computer has a dial-up modem installed. There are two areas to look for a dial-up modem.

First, look at the back of your system unit, or tower. There should be a port that looks just like the telephone jack in the back of a telephone and in the wall. You can use a regular phone cord to test whether the port is the right size (if it's too big, it's not the right port). You will find one of these three scenarios:

1. There is only one a port, but it is slightly larger than a regular phone port. This is the Ethernet port used for broadband connections, like cable and DSL. If this is the only port you have, you do not have a dial-up modem.

2. There is one telephone port (often along the bottom, but not always) and a telephone cord fits in it snugly. You have a dial-up modem! If you are planning to use a telephone on the same phone jack your computer is using, plug a splitter in the wall jack, then plug in two phone cords into the splitter for each device.

3. There is two ports side by side that fit the telephone cord. You found your dial-up modem! The reason you have two ports is because one is to plug a phone cord coming from the wall and the other is to connect a telephone to use when you are not online. The port marked “line” or showing a picture of a phone jack is for the cord coming from the jack in the wall. The port reading “phone” or showing a picture of a telephone is where you plug a phone cord leading to your telephone. *Note: You do not need to use the "phone" port. Also, keep in mind that if you accidentally plug the wall jack line into the "phone" port instead of the "line" port, you will not be able to connect!

If you do not have a modem, you need to buy one. If you do, the following steps will show you how to check if your modem software is installed properly. 

1. Open Control Panel, then make sure you are in classic view if you have XP or Vista.

2. Open your modem options. On older versions of Windows, you'll see “Modems”, and on 2000 or newer, you'll see “Phone and Modem Options”.

3. Click on the “Modems” tab (skip this step if you have an older computer).

4. Here is a box listing the modem(s) installed on your computer.

5. Beside the modem it lists where it is connected. It will either have “not present”, or “COM” and a number. (On older computers, click properties for the modem in question and look for “Port:” Your modem must be listed as attached to one of the COM ports, or you modem has been removed or corrupted. If this is the case, you must either reinstall, repair, or replace the modem.

If you have a modem both installed in the tower and listed as properly installed, you are ready to sign up for dial-up. Other minor issues could occur once you try to connect, however, you will be better prepared and less likely to have connection issues upon starting your new service.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

Bits and bytes are measurements of data, but they differ in their size and what they measure. Understanding what these terms are will help you understand how your computer stores information and how your Internet connection speed effects you. One way to tell them apart is the case in which they are written. When abbreviating bits and bytes, a “b” (small case) is a bit, and “B” (upper case) is a byte, therefore, “kb” is kilobit and “KB” is kilobyte (note: the case of the letters before the b are insignificant).

A bit (b) is the smallest measurement of data that can be stored on computers or transferred by Internet services. Bits represent information with a binary coding system made up of only 1's and 0's (bi means two, i.e., two numbers). When bits are arranged and stored in sequences of 1's and 0's, they are translated by computer programming into words, pictures, and other data.

Usually, when you hear the term “bits”, they are measuring transfer rate, or how much information can be transferred in a certain amount of time. Internet connection speeds are measured this way, for example, “bps” is bits per second, the amount of bits that can be downloaded or transferred in a second. Since bits are so small, most connection speeds are measured in thousands of bits per second.

When measuring transfer rate for Internet connections, 1 kilobit (kb) = 1000 bits, 1 megabit (mb) = 1000 kilobits. Say you connect with dial-up at 34.4 kbps. That means 34.4 kilobits or 34400 bits can be downloaded per second to your computer. Say you connect with DSL at 6 “megs” aka mbps. You can download 6 megabits, or 6000 kilobits, or 6,000,000 bits per second.

A byte (B) is 8 bits strung together. Remember, bits store information based on a binary system and are arranged in sequences. These sequences are in sets of 8 and called bytes. It takes many bytes sequenced together to create documents, images, programs, and commands for your computer. When measuring sizes of files, programs, and capacities of drives, you use bytes. Like bits, byte are often noted in larger quantities, like kilobytes, megabytes (megs), and gigabytes (gigs).

Many people assume a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, etc., but this is not true. When describing capacity (size or storage size of computer elements), bytes are measured by the same binary system that code bits. Therefore, “kilo” = 1,024 (or, 2^10) instead of 1000. A kilobyte (KB) is 1,024 bytes, and a megabyte (MB) is 1,024 kilobytes. A gigabyte (GB) is 1,024 megabytes.

A Microsoft Word document is usually about 30 KB in size. An picture, like clip art is typically about 100 KB, and photos are often much larger. A CD typically has a 700 MB (or 716,800 KB) storage capacity. You can buy computers with a hard drive (main storage unit) capacity of 500 gig (or 524,288,000 KB).

Don't forget, 1 byte is 8 bits. An Internet connection (like transfer rates or download speeds) is measured in bits, and 1 kilobit is 1,000 bits. Storage capacity (like disk space and file sizes), it is measured in bytes, and 1 kilobyte is 1,024 bytes.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

Trying to describe the connection speed of dial-up is difficult. You're using 56K modems, but it's not really 56 kilobits per second. Here's an in-depth explanation of dial-up speeds and what they can accomplish.

Basic Web Surfing. Most webpages will load with dial-up. How long it will take depends on almost a dozen factors. For example, in the last ten years, many more websites are using multimedia technology (videos, music, animations) that are difficult to load on even the best dial-up connection. However, compression technology and other techniques in graphic and web design are improving, making webpages easier to load than before. Some websites have a simple layout view that you can choose if you are on a dial-up connection. Many website will load the prominent features first, then all the pictures and backgrounds. If you see the link or form you were looking for, you don't have to wait for the entire page to load to click or type on it.

Many Internet services, software programs, and browsers that offer tools to help you load webpages faster. You can probably use a combination of these three that will work best for you. These will not change your actual connection speed (measured in kilobits per second, or kbps), but compress webpages or use different loading techniques.

Most dial-up connection speeds are about 28-50 kbps. If your connection is less than 28, you may need to check with your ISP, phone company, and local computer technician for ways to improve your connection, if possible. Assuming you have a typical connection, here are likely loading times for three websites, without acceleration:

• Google.com-On a dial up connection, this page should load in about 5-7 seconds.

• Yahoo.com-This page is much busier, so it would take 35-45 seconds on dial-up. Keep in mind, however, you can begin searches and click on links as soon as they appear, so you rarely need to wait for the entire page to load.

• CNN.com-This site is heavy with text, headings, and images. Using a dial up connection, the home page should load in about 3 minutes.

Downloads. The difference in connection speeds are most visible for downloads. Accelerators can't change download speeds and, on dial-up, every kilobit counts. Smaller downloads (about 1-10 MB) are usually not a problem. If you download a 3 MB song, for example, on a 50 kbps dial-up connection, it take about 8-10 minutes, or 15-20 minutes on a 28 kbps connection.

Firefox 3.5 is the latest version of Mozilla's free browser. It is 7.6 MB, which would take just over 20 minutes on a faster dial-up connection, or about 45 minutes on a slower. If you get disconnected occasionally because of line noise, etc., you may need to make several attempts to download programs that are longer than 2 hours.

Large downloads, like an anti-virus program or major software upgrades are sometimes not possible with dial-up because most dial-up providers have automatic disconnect at 4 hours. The free version of AVG 8.5, for instance, is 63.1 MB. On a good dial-up connection, that would take over 3 hours; on a 28 kbps connection, nearly 6 hours. A download larger than 40 MB would probably not ever download on a 28 kbps connection. You can often download large programs like these to another computer (like the library or your laptop on a public wireless connection) and transfer the installation file to your computer later. Read more about ways to improve your downloads on dial-up or how to calculate download times.

Video/Audio Streaming. Live streaming, like a radio station's website, YouTube, and many interactive multimedia sites are not going to work on dial-up. In some cases, you can play a short video or audio clip if you wait an hour or more to load it. If you need to attend live web seminars or classes, or want to play online games, movies, or music in real time, dial-up will simply not be satisfactory. However, if you need an Internet connection to surf the web, check your email, play small flash games, and pay bills, dial-up will be fine. The money you'll save might make waiting a little easier.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

If you're stuck on dial-up, you probably are open to anything to make it go a little faster. More and more websites now play colorful flash programs and stream audio and video clips that are sometimes impossible for dial-up to load—or at least not any time soon. Here are a few things that may help you maximize your online experience.

Minimize surfing. Keep your browsing to one, maybe two windows at a time. While your email homepage is loading, you can log into your bank account or read a news article. Depending on what you are trying to do, one window may work better. Close any tabs and pages that you are not using to avoid using any unnecessary bandwidth.

Use shortcuts. Create favorites or bookmarks of the pages you visit frequently to minimize extra clicks and load times. Some welcome screens and advertisements give you a "skip" or "close" link so you don't have to sit through it every time. Click the stop button at the top of the browser if don't need the whole page. If you see the link of the page you want, you don't need the rest of the website to load before clicking the link.

Manage necessary updates. Your anti-virus or Window's updates programs will automatically download updates as soon as you connect to the Internet everyday—unless you have changed the settings. Schedule updates at a time that you aren't trying to view web pages, or connect to the Internet half an hour before you are ready to start using it to give the updates a chance to finish.

Eliminate unneeded processes. Some programs like Windows Messenger or a weather forecaster are often set to automatically connect every time you go online. You can change the options in these programs not to start until you prompt them to connect to avoid using bandwidth to start programs you won't be using.

Download later. When you're checking your email, you don't want to compete with the bandwidth it takes to download a program or large update. Save the file to a location you will be able to find later. Let large downloads run overnight or when you're away from home, then install them later. If possible, save large downloads to a flash drive or directly to your laptop while you're at the library or a coffee shop with free wireless service. This will take much less time and can be transferred to your home computer later. Read more about ways to improve downloading on dial-up.

Clear browser data. For every web page you open, your Internet browser saves files, cookies, history, etc. These enable you to click on the forward and back button, or save data you enter on a form or log-in page. Eventually, your browser can get bogged down with all that saved information. You should clear your stored files, cookies, and history every six weeks or months, depending on how much you surf on a daily basis. If you use Internet Explorer, click Tools, then Internet Options. You will see the options to delete stored data here. If you are using Firefox, click Tools, then Clear Private Data.

Try a new browser. If you are like the majority of Internet users, you probably surf the web with Internet Explorer. There are many other browsers to choose from. Most of them free to download and are compatible with most websites. Each browser has different compression and page loading technology that may be faster for you. Some browsers come with accelerators and other features that would be helpful to you. The three most popular browsers next to IE are Mozilla's Firefox, Google's Chrome, and Opera. Each of these are free downloads and their website has helpful information to get the most out of them.

There are other changes to your computer and hardware that can improve your connection speed. Check with your local computer technician for ways to get the computer itself to run faster or call your ISP provider for suggestions, equipment, or upgrades that can affect your surfing speed.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!