How to Fix Slow Internet Speed in Windows 8

[Kevin Caldwell]

Can't say I've had a slow experience with anything when it comes to Windows 8 =) People may slate it, but admittedly it's the fastest, most stable, most efficient version of Windows ever... I used to hate having to reinstalled XP, Vista, and Windows 7, because they used to degrade over time... never had to do that with Windows 8 :O

 

[CaedenV]

1) this is a Windows problem, not a win8 problem. I use to have to do this all of the time with winXP, and I still have these kinds of issues on my win7 machine at work on occasion. Bad form making it seem like a win8 flaw when it is a MS flaw.

2) 'slow' is very different from 'broken'. Slow means that it will work... eventually. If your DNS is corrupt/poisoned then the page simply will not load because it is looking in the wrong place.

3) If people use win8 like this then there is little wonder why people think it sucks for keyboard and mice users! Could we at least get a video that uses commands and workflows that are sensible?

 

[nawat]

Very misleading article. I do not expect something like this from Tomshardware.

 

[spectrewind]

is this dns thingy problem only specific to windows 8? or it can happen on other os as well?

Windows 3.1. Linux. You name it. Anything running a BIND-compatible DNS resolver that caches received content. The DNS cache, in memory, should purge content in about 15-minutes or so, and certainly on the next boot. Anything critical belongs in the HOSTS file anyway.The problem you run into, besides a 'poison' man-in-the-middle attack, is split-horizon DNS, where you have the same FQDN (fully qualified domain name) resolving to different IPs, such as using a VPN or the Internet, while NOT purging the cache between connections, while resolving the same remote host.

 

[nikolajj]

I see that still no one knows about the awesome right click in down left corner menu. Sad really!

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

Just lock your DNS server to a public domain server like one from Google. If you set your router's DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 you'll always bounce http/https search requests against a known Google DNS. Clearing your temp folder isn't a bad idea but it's also not the only place your PC caches internet temp files. This is a noob article by all means. It's inspired me to write a proper how-to in the forums for system optimization. Stay tuned

This isn't "broken" and it isn't a "problem" on *any* OS, if you simply know one of the most basic things about networking and the internet: how a DNS works.

I gave the solution above. You don't need fancy software or any other crap to solve this, even in Linux. Use a trusted DNS service like Google's (IP above) and make sure to point your router to it. OpenDNS is another option.

If you're on a laptop, you'll want to configure this in your network settings within the OS in the event you're on another network. This is really a good idea even on desktop, in the event you're using a VPN or other service which may ignore your router's setting.

DNS has always been something that needs to be configured. In the last 10-15 years, ISPs have started allowing a user with a dynamic IP to use their own DNS when the network doesn't find another DNS. Most people have never changed this, but that doesn't mean that Windows or Linux are broken. It means you need to learn how to use your OS.

The fact that there is little to no network configuration needed with most/all broadband providers doesn't mean you shouldn't learn a few networking tricks to protect yourself and optimize your service. Back in the day, DNS, DHCP, Default Gateway, IP, NetBIOS all had to be configured manually just to *connect* to the internet.

The general assumption with the "internet generation" seems to be that if something doesn't work out of the box, it's broken. There's no learning involved. Take initiative and learn to do these things yourself and you'll be much happier.

 

[krissrock]

nono,,, the problem with IE in windows 8 seems to be it's knack for attempting to load the complete page before you're able to scroll around. I assume the slowness is being caused by the Advertisements that are being served up all over the pages. Hence why you can go to a page, go the a different page, but when you try to go BACK, the page takes forever to finish loading! IE is looking for and waiting for the new set of advertisements to load on the page which is god awful and stupid because the browser is otherwise great!

 

[cypeq]

Won't help with tom's heavy and sluggish website, tho. ;-)