Skype and other computer problems

[BangkokHank]

Lately I've been having trouble with Skype. While talking with friends and family members on various continents around the world, I can always hear the other party clearly and without them breaking up. But whenever I talk, the people I talk to tell me that half of the conversation goes missing. I asked if they have this problem when they talk with other people, and they don't. So apparently the problem is on my end.

At the same time, and perhaps related to this, lately my computer has been running very slowly. By the end of the day, there is a long lapse between the time I type something and the letters appearing on the screen. If I restart my computer, the problem seems to be solved - for a few hours - before coming back again.

I have done a virus scan and that doesn't seem to be the cause of the problem. Can anyone suggest anything to solve this? Thanks.

[draftvader]

Sounds like something is running and using your bandwidth and RAM. Sometimes a virus scan won't touch everything. There are a couple of things you can do. Firstly you want to discover what is using your bandwidth.

Download and install

https://netbalancer.com

Once it is installed you can see what is using your bandwidth just by opening the main application. If you want you can copy and paste your traffic here using "Traffic Rules" then "Copy". Just be sure you blank out any stuff you don't want us knowing about

Once we understand what is using the bandwidth we can move onto the RAM hogs.

[Chicog]

You could also open Task manager and click on Performance to see if any app or process is hogging all your memory, processor or I/O.

Added: Or for a simpler tool to see if it's an Internet bandwidth issue, try this:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/755115-a-nice-way-of-looking-at-your-internet-traffic/

Edited October 9, 2014 by Chicog

[draftvader]

You could also open Task manager and click on Performance to see if any app or process is hogging all your memory, processor or I/O.

Added: Or for a simpler tool to see if it's an Internet bandwidth issue, try this:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/755115-a-nice-way-of-looking-at-your-internet-traffic/

Though I have to add that your suggestion is a 15Mb install vs 5.1Mb for Netbalancer. Either way both will do the job.

[BangkokHank]

I forgot to mention: I have two computers at home running all the time - a desktop and a laptop. They are both using the same internet connection. But the desktop does not have this speed problem, whereas the laptop does. I don't know how the desktop would work with Skype because I don't use Skype on it due to it not having a webcam. But as far as the speed of loading pages and typing, the desktop is much faster - "normal", I would say. Does that help any in determining the cause of the performance problem? Can it be a bandwidth issue if one computer works fine and the other doesn't? It seems like it would not be an internet / bandwidth issue, but it could be a RAM issue, right?

[Chicog]

Bloody dupe!

Funnily enough TV told me "I do not have permission for that" and "I should wait 14 seconds", but posted it anyway.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Chicog

[Chicog]

You could also open Task manager and click on Performance to see if any app or process is hogging all your memory, processor or I/O.

Added: Or for a simpler tool to see if it's an Internet bandwidth issue, try this:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/755115-a-nice-way-of-looking-at-your-internet-traffic/

Though I have to add that your suggestion is a 15Mb install vs 5.1Mb for Netbalancer. Either way both will do the job.

It doesn't really matter, as it can be uninstalled if/when the problem is identified.

And it has the added benefit of a far simpler interface.

[draftvader]

It could be a process (RAM) issue or it could be a hardware/driver issue. How are both these computers connecting to the network? LAN (wire) or WiFi (wireless)?

[BangkokHank]

It could be a process (RAM) issue or it could be a hardware/driver issue. How are both these computers connecting to the network? LAN (wire) or WiFi (wireless)?

Both by LAN. (Which makes me think of "One if by land, two if by sea." Ha.)

[draftvader]

Have you tried switching ports on the router? (i.e. swap them over). Let's eliminate the router.

Edited October 9, 2014 by draftvader

[BangkokHank]

Have you tried switching ports on the router? (i.e. swap them over). Let's eliminate the router.

I just swapped them. Do I need to restart anything before reaching any conclusions?

By the way, thanks for your willingness to help me!

[BangkokHank]

Okay, that didn't change anything. The desk-top computer still loads web pages faster and there is still a delay on my laptop, particularly when I type.

[draftvader]

Fine. Now can you find out whether your computer is up to date. Also we need to establish if your network card drivers are up to date. Run Windows Update then let us know how things are.

[draftvader]

Actually we can cut this down if you need to.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

If you don't feel like posting this publicly then PM me and Chicog the results.

[Chicog]

I was going to ask him if his hard disk light was on solid when the computer wasn't doing anything.

[draftvader]

We'll get there. Just taking logical steps (but, yes, there must be something stealing CPU and RAM). Hopefully a Belarc output will have something obvious to point at.

[BangkokHank]

Fine. Now can you find out whether your computer is up to date. Also we need to establish if your network card drivers are up to date. Run Windows Update then let us know how things are.

Ha - I can assure you that my computers are not up to date! And it is not possible for me to update them, as I am using Panthip versions of Windows 7.

However, I don't see how that could be an issue as both of my computers are running the same version of software, but one works fine and the other one is slow.

I ran the Belarc software as you suggested. It seems only to have given me a "Security Benchmark Score" - and a rather low one at that: 0.63 of 10!

But would security affect speed - and Skype?

As for whether the hard disk light is on: I'm afraid I don't even see a hard disk light on my laptop. Do all laptops have one? In any case, none of the lights that my laptop has is blinking.

[BangkokHank]

I just found the hard disk light - and it seems to be off most of the time. It just flickered briefly when I pulled out a USB drive.

[draftvader]

I think the Belarc output is the best idea. PM me but I won't look until the morning as I am in bed now. Chicog might be up later than me and I know he can decipher the output as well as me. PM us together so we don't repeat each other. Cheers

[innerspace]

You mentioned webcam... thats my bet. Average upload speeds are much lower than download, often 10M/1M. If problems are with people hearing you then that is your upload. Audio is only 100K or so but video can easily go up to 1Mbps for an HD webcam. So if your connection is struggling video could kill your upload. Next time it happens disable your video and see if it improves. If so, reduce your video quality.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

What is the model number for the laptop?

[BangkokHank]

What is the model number for the laptop?

It is an ASUS F45U with a 1.7Ghz processor. Granted that's not a lot of processing power, but it seemed to have been enough when I bought it. Maybe I'm overtaxing it by having so many applications running at the same time?

[BangkokHank]

I think the Belarc output is the best idea. PM me but I won't look until the morning as I am in bed now. Chicog might be up later than me and I know he can decipher the output as well as me. PM us together so we don't repeat each other. Cheers

I have PMed what I thought were the most relevant pages of the Belarc output to both you and Chicog. Sleep well, and I look forward to hearing your interpretation tomorrow. Again, thanks very much for your willingness to help.

[BangkokHank]

You mentioned webcam... thats my bet. Average upload speeds are much lower than download, often 10M/1M. If problems are with people hearing you then that is your upload. Audio is only 100K or so but video can easily go up to 1Mbps for an HD webcam. So if your connection is struggling video could kill your upload. Next time it happens disable your video and see if it improves. If so, reduce your video quality.

I have tried disabling the video, but it didn't help. As I said, strangely, I am always able to hear the party with whom I am skyping very clearly, but when I speak, they can't hear me due to my speech breaking up. It happens regularly with my father in America, and yesterday it happened with a friend in Hungary, a friend in India, and even with a friend in Bangkok. This didn't used to happen.

Edited October 9, 2014 by BangkokHank

[innerspace]

Not strange at all, if they cant hear you its normally related to you upload connection. Could be bandwidth, routing, firewalls or packet loss. Video would be an obvious cause. ISP issues could be related, not heard if the damaged undersea cable is fixed yet...do you use true? Heard they have been imtermittent recently.

Whatever the issue, often with skype hanging up and calling again improves connection.

[Chicog]

Can we go back to Post #3?

My head is hurting a bit too much this morning to start looking at Belarc outputs. Maybe later.

Go to Task Manager and Performance.

You can sort the columns and see if anything is hogging processor, RAM or disk.

[BangkokHank]

Problem solved! I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I did the thing that draftvader suggested about removing (unchecking) items from the startup list. (I should add that it was necessary to restart the computer after doing that, which I finally did today.) And now the computer runs as fast as lightning! I also just had a Skype chat with a friend - and it was perfect!

Thanks very much to everyone who helped me on this, especially draftvader and chicog. I owe y'all one. (I'm currently having discussions on another thread about health issues, so if either of you needs a very good yet cheap urologist, I would be happy to recommend one for you!)

Edited October 10, 2014 by BangkokHank

[draftvader]

No need to take the piss Nah, you're welcome. Enjoy Adobe-less running!

[draftvader]

Just to close this off and help others that might have a similar situation I can explain what we discussed (without details) in the PM. It turned out that a number of programs were launching on start-up and hogging resources. A lot of software will attempt to be a startup program in the hope that this makes their software look good as it launches the moment you ask it to. This is a problem when the software isn't something you use every day.

http://www.winpatrol.com/

This piece of software will warn you when a piece of software is trying to become a startup option so you can deny it. Naturally there are some items that need this. They are commonly graphics controllers, audio controllers, disk controllers, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, automatic backup software, etc You can also have programs open automatically that aren't designed to. I have, for example, Thunderbird opening 30 seconds after start-up is completed. I use e-mail constantly so never have this closed.