ASSIGNMENT 6. :-*

TOPIC: If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved? (3000words)

If I was hired as an IT consultant in the university, before giving suggestions to improve the internet connection, I would first state some possible reasons why the internet connection fails. (This is according to Bob Ranklin. )

“There are several possible reasons why your Internet connection might suddenly stop working. If you were on dialup, the most likely scenario would be noise on the phone line, but since you have a high-speed cable connection, we can rule that out.

In a recent Ask Bob Rankin article Do Computers Get Tired? I addressed the subject of electronic devices that fail at random times, and gave some scientific basis for occasionally turning the device off and then back on. I have a cable modem as well, and have found that sometimes a slow or dropped Internet connection is restored simply by unplugging the cable modem, waiting 30 seconds and powering it back on. Not pretty, but it works. If the problem is happening every day, though, it might be better to replace the modem.

There could also be a software-related issue which is causing your Internet connection to fail. If you have other computers on a home network, and they have no trouble getting online, then I'd cast a wary glance in the direction of your firewall. Firewalls are designed to block certain Internet connections, so it's entirely possible that a bug in the firewall software is erroneously shutting down ALL network connections. You may even have told the firewall to do this without meaning to.

Open your firewall's configuration screen and check to see what programs are being blocked from connecting to the Internet. If nothing obvious appears to be erroneously blocked, try shutting down or uninstalling the firewall software, then reboot and see if the problem persists. If that fixes the problem, consider ditching the software-based firewall, especially if you have a router between your computer and the cable modem. Routers have hardware-based firewalls built in, which makes firewall software superfluous for most users.

To uninstall the firewall software, click on the Start button, open Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs. Find the firewall in the list and click the Remove button. Note that your firewall may be bundled with an anti-virus of internet security package. If that's the case, click on that package (ex: eTrust EZ-Armor or Norton Internet Security), and make sure you select ONLY the firewall for removal, leaving the anti-virus protection in place.

If none of those things helps, report the problem to your Internet provider. If the problem has something to do with your modem or the cabling in your neighborhood, it might be affecting your neighbors as well.” – Bob Ranklin

After stating some possible reasons why the internet connectivity fails, here are some of the steps, tips, and some warnings in maximizing your internet connection. (Internet based.)

STEPS:
1. Do some basic maintenance on your PC. Run Disk Defrag, a scan disk, a virus scan, a malware scan, and clear your recycle bin. An unusually slow Internet connection experience is often the only sign that your computer is infected with viruses or other malware. Delete old files and temporary files. Never allow the free space on your C: drive to be less than 10% of the total size or twice the installed RAM (which ever is larger). A well maintained PC will operate much better than a PC that has never had any maintenance. Google or your local computer repair store should be able to help you with this if you don't know how.

2. Reset Your Home Network. Sometimes restarting your home network if you have one will drastically increase the speed of your connection.

3. Optimize your cache or temporary Internet files. These files improve your Internet connection performance by not downloading the same file over and over. When a web site puts their logo graphic on every page your computer only downloads it when it changes. If you delete the temporary files it must be downloaded again. if you disable the cache, it must be downloaded every time you view a page that uses it. This can be done by opening Internet Explorer, clicking on "Tools" at the top and choosing "Internet Options". On the General tab, click the "Settings" button next to Temporary Internet Files. Set Check for newer versions to "Automatically". Set amount of disk space to use to 2% of your total disk size or 512 MB, which ever is smaller. On Firefox, click "Tools" then "Options," and go to the privacy tab. Then click on the Cache tab within this.

4. Never bypass your router. Most routers include a firewall that is very difficult for hackers to defeat. If you don't need to use Wireless then hook your computer directly to your router. Routers will only slow down your connection by a few Milli-seconds. You won't notice the difference but the hackers will.

5. If you are using a Wireless router, make sure it doesn't conflict with a cordless phone or wireless camera. Wireless routers come in two varieties; 802.11bg (2.4Ghz) or 802.11a (5.8Ghz) If you are using a 2.4Ghz Cordless phone and 2.4Ghz Wireless router then your Internet connection speed will slow while you use the cordless phone. The same is true of wireless security cameras. Check on your phone and camera, if it's 900Mhz then it's fine. If it says 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz then it could be the cause of your slow connection speed while they're in use.

6. Call your Internet service provider (ISP). Sometimes you just have bad service. They can usually tell if your connection is substandard without having a technician come to your home. Just be nice and ask.

7. Upgrade your computer. If your computer is slow, it doesn't matter how fast your Internet connection is, the whole thing will just seem slow. You can only access the Internet as fast as your PC will allow you to.

8. Replace your old cable modem. Any solid-state electronics will degrade over time due to accumulated heat damage. Your broadband modem will have a harder and harder time 'concentrating' on maintaining a good connection as it gets older (signal to noise ratios will go down, and the number of resend requests for the same packet will go up). An after-market cable modem as opposed to a cable-company modem will frequently offer a better connection.

9. Often your connection speed is slow because other programs are using it. To test if other programs are accessing the Internet without your knowing, Click Start, Click Run. Type "cmd" (without quotes). Type "netstat -b 5 > activity.txt". After a minute or so, hold down Ctrl and press C. This has created a file with a list of all programs using your Internet connection. Type activity.txt to open the file and view the program list. Ctrl Alt Delete and open up the Task Manager. Go to the process menu and delete those processes that are stealing your valuable bandwidth. (NOTE: Deleting processes may cause certain programs to not function properly)

10. After you have tried all this try your connection again and see if it's running any faster.

TIPS:
1. Call your ISP and have them verify all of your TCP/IP settings if you are concerned. Ask them to verify that your Proxy settings are correct.

2. Don't expect dial up or high speed lite service to be fast. The Internet is primarily geared towards Broadband Connections. Sometimes, you have to wait a little.

3. Download programs that make browsing faster:
- Loband.org is a browser inside of a browser that loads web pages without the images.

-Firefox and Opera both have options to disable images.
-In Firefox, you can also use extensions such as NoScript that let you block scripts and plug-ins that would otherwise slow things down a lot.
-If you are using Internet Explorer or Firefox, try downloading Google Web Accelerator. It is meant to speed up broadband connections, but it can also slow your Internet connection. Try enabling it and disabling it and see when your Internet connection runs faster.
-If you are using Firefox, download the Fasterfox extension and Firetune.
-Reduce the amount of programs running that use your Internet connection (Instant Messengers, RSS Feeders, and MS Applications set to send Internet data)
-Google Accessible Is designed to search pages in order of how clean they are of junk. This will bring up pages that are usually not only easy to read, but are quick to load.

4. Upgrade your RAM. This will not only improve your regular computer use, but it will affect the speed of your Internet connection because your computer works faster.

5. Use the Stop button to stop loading pages once you've gotten what you want.
6. Some times malware on your computer can eat up your bandwidth. Make sure you have an up-to-date malware protection program.

7. Most Internet Providers have flaky DNS servers (no citation necessary, it's a given) - so, instead of using those provided by your ISP, switch your DNS servers to use those of OpenDNS. OpenDNS is far faster, and more reliable, simply using 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 as your domain name servers will speed up most flaky DNS problems (may even speed up your networking since OpenDNS has large caches).

8. Look into running your own local DNS server on your network. Some newer routers may include their own nameserver, otherwise, check into AnalogX.com's DNSCache program, it works great to hold commonly accessed domain names in the "cache" so that the IP addresses do not have to be looked up everytime you navigate to a new page.

WARNINGS:
1. Viruses and malware can often use up your bandwidth and slow down your Internet connection. Make sure you have protection against this. Many ISP's will provide software for this. Make sure your anti-virus and malware scanners are up-to-date.

2. Bypassing the router will leave you more vulnerable to attacks because you no longer have the built-in firewall from your router protecting you.

3. Watch out for scams that claim to make your Internet go a lot faster for free. They may tell you to download their program, which usually has a lot of other hidden programs attached that might steal your identity.