Vista - Extremely slow Internet browsing... Download speeds are fine

Guys, is there any way I can help speed up my browsing on the internet? I know some sites are slower than others but, as of late, the internet seems to slow down to a crawl yet, when I do the speed test, I end up scoring higher or just where I am supposed to be at.

I only use Avast as my A.V. & Spyware + Windows Firewall, no proxies. I am also using OpenDNS for my dns address and this has help a bit but still, I will like more from it since when I download a file, it does it fairly quick.

Any ideas?

If we assume you are not hit by evil infection, then it might be relevant that an older post of yours show you have router with firmware not updated since long. Wireless Routers - Linksys Community Forums try search for it here. Lots of problems like this v4.21.1 of Linksys WRT54G Firmware is Bad - Wireless Routers - Linksys Community Forums though you can say the same for many routers.

So why dont you update to Tomato firmware? If it qualifies, Tomato FAQ | polarcloud.com

That way you can let router handle dynamic IP update (Basic, DDNS) and also get a little boost by increasing build in cache. Advanced, DHCP/DNS can be set up like in the pic. In older post I lost url to did you say Opendns ips changed? They should not. Only 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 are allowed I think, see pic for how it looks in Tomato.

Read up on Tomato site, there should not be a risk by "flashing" - can go back. Also dont wonder where firewall went - it is not possible to turn it off

If browsers are hosed by infection good luck Opendns can have problems in certain areas but should be temporarily. Infection is more likely than opendns messing up if set up correctly.

Thanks DK70, I will take a look at that when I get home as here in the office I use a Netopia/Motorola ADSL router but, at the house I use the WRT54G router and I do believe I have that Version of firmware and that has always being my issue, which btw, I discarded because it was happening at the office (NEtopia router) as well .

My LAN settings look just like those on your 2nd pic butthe first pic does not look like anything I have either on the Netopia or Linksys.

Well, I have decided to DISABLE IPv6 first to see if I am succesful, if the problem persists, then I will comeback to this post and try the methods posted here.

Thanks

No Tomato is different, not same setting or terms used.

There must be some network geeks here so if firmware type dont mean a thing I think you should post more details, like all of them. Firmware can give many problems, just look at linksys or netgear forums. The other day I was trying to help someone with a flash chat, could not connect. Everything else was worked. Turned out there was a conflict between routers firewall and Nortons. Had to disable routers and all was fine. Netgear have a page where they recommend turning off other firewalls Answer like they own the house So there can be conflict with routers and software firewall. I never knew. Try turn it off for a test. Funny that in order to make same Netgear decent as a wireless router everyone at Netgear suggest to turn off routers firewall! An older Netgear I had was crap at torrents, after 3-4 updates it was flying with no freezes, slowdowns. Firmware can be life or death.

You have this weird problem at home - and same weird problem at the office. Other computer/setup, other network, nothing in common except you? Must be you having bad influence on the internet then

Have you tried stopping Avast Webshield and Netshield? There should not be problems with Windows firewall but easy to try.

You have not been tweaking for more speed? Dont think it is a good idea on Vista. netsh interface tcp show global are defaults?

Everything that has to do with Networking is Default on both my Office PCs and Home. I do this because Networking is so GREEK to me.

Well, so far so good, I disabled IPv6 last night, used my PC for a while and left it on all night long, of course it went to sleep (and so did I ), this morning, I woke up and after waking up the pc as well, I had internet connectivity so, I am hoping it was not just a fluke.

Thanks for the help