upped RAM, but now internet slow

just doubled my RAM from 256 to 512MB on a pentium III system and all but my internet downloads are moving pretty much lightning quick ... IE and MSN Explorer however (unfortunately i'm still a slave to dial up) seem now to move only HALF as fast as before

is this something i should have seen coming?

also forgive me if i posted in the wrong area ... the problem started when i added MEMORY so figured posting in "hardware" area was apropos

thanks,
pwyll

 

If general PC usage and application launching and usage seems a bit faster than before, then this would be indicative of a RAM upgrade. If EVERYTHING has slowed down then probably a mismatched memory. One of the sticks may have a different CAS latency setting. You could go into BIOS and change the CAS latency setting as way of experimenting from 2 to 3 or vice versa. Some BIOS's will "Suggest" a latency setting on screen during the BIOS post. But a mismatched pair seem the likely cause.

If everything other than IE and MSN seem OK then probably not memory related. Maybe just a coincidence?

Try removing the newly installed stick and observe, and/or run it on its own and observe.

 

Because only the internet has slowed down and everything else is faster, your RAM upgrade went fine.

I would guess you have adware/spyware and it is a coincidence that it appeared the same time as the new RAM was installed. The post above this has links to spyware removers that i like like Spybot S&D and adaware, so i dont need to put them here, use the links in that post to get the programs. They are free.
Make sure you let them update thier definitions before scanning. Spybot for example will ask you to do so on first run.

 

fine and dandy now ...

thanks for the info ... system is back to normal (actually better than normal with the added memory stick) ... there was no adware/spyware detected so perhaps it was simply a hiccup ... i did defrag the drive after installing the new RAM (hadn't defragged for at least eight months -oops!) so maybe the new memory allocation patterns temporarily slowed my web-surfing -or is that a reach?- but anyway things seem fine now ...

and just as an aside, i love how swiftly folks post replies and useful advice on this forum ... not once have i requested assistance and not received an informed helpful response ... thanx

pwyll