Below are the top 10 reasons why someone might experience a period of slowness when accessing a website or web-based application.
The list is in no particular order.
1. Toolbars
After running our browser checker, you will notice a Browser Version area which will reveal information about the web browser you are using. Within the Agent part of the Browser Version window you may see evidence of toolbars installed within your browser. Such toolbars include, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Companion, MSN Toolbar, AOL Toolbar, WebSearch Toolbar, Zongo Toolbar, etc. These toolbars can slow down your browsing experience and negatively affect elements found in any of our Learning Management Systems (LMS).
2. Java Runtime Environment
After running our browser checker, you will notice a Java Information area which will reveal the version of the Java Runtime Environment you are using. Usually an incompatible version of Java will not prevent a user from logging into a LMS but it could prevent a user from accessing and using functionalities within a LMS. Sometimes having an incompatible version of Java will give the affect of a slow experience with a LMS. An incompatible version of Java can also cause ‘freezing’ of the browser and may cause the system to ‘kick’ users out of their accounts.
3. Speed of your internet connection
After running our browser checker, you will notice a Bandwidth Test that is available. Upon running this Speed Test you will be given results for your Download speed and Upload speed. Please visit Understanding Your Speed Results for more information on connection speeds.
4. Music Downloads
iTunes, Napster, Kazaa, Bearshare, and Limewire are some of the popular applications that are capable of downloading music onto your computer. Most of these applications by default will share the music on your computer with other users around the world. When these applications are running people can download your entire library of music thus causing your internet connection to slow down depending on how heavy the music download/upload traffic is. A lot of people are un-aware that these applications are set to start every time their computers start up. Most people are unaware that these applications are even running in the background.
5. Internet Explorer 7.0
Microsoft has recently released the newest version of its popular Internet Explorer web browser; version 7.0. This browser has some new security features that may impact the LMS’s. These security features can prevent files from being downloaded and even cause slowness when browsing the web. A new ‘phishing’ (phishing is the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business with a real need for such information in a seemingly official electronic notification or message.) feature is enabled by default that will scan every web page before it loads to detect any malicious content. This can noticeably slow the loading of web pages down. We recommend using Internet Explorer 6.0 or Firefox 1.0.x or 1.5.x.
6. Wireless Networks
Many people now have wireless home routers in their house. With a wireless router comes a wireless network; which by default is not secure. Your neighbors or anyone around your home may be able to get onto your home network wirelessly if it has not been secured. These unwanted users can use your internet connection to download files which would slow your connection down. Anti-virus and network security software does not secure your wireless network. Only through manually setting up encryption and other wireless security methods will your wireless network be secure.
7. ISP (Internet Service Provider)
Some times your internet can seem slow because your ISP is conducting tests, doing upgrades, or is trying to resolve an issue with their service. Your connection can also slow down depending on how many other people are using the same service in your area (this is especially true with cable modem service).
8. Applications running in the background
A lot of computers (including brand new computers) may contain a large amount
of applications running. A majority of these applications can; and
usually are, set to start up when the computer is started. This not
only causes the computer to take a very long time to start up but will cause
the computer to become sluggish while it is running. This can also
affect the speed of your internet connection. If your computer is
trying to manage many programs running at once it will also have a hard time
managing your internet connection.
9. Viruses, Malware, and Adware
Viruses (computer programs that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user) along with malware (or malicious software is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent) can also cause a computer to become extremely slow and non-functional in certain areas. Adware (or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used.) can also slow computers down by constantly popping up ads and using your Internet connection to contact and send information back to servers around the world.
Viruses, malware, and adware can be obtained by downloading programs from sites that may not be trusted. You can pick up these three things from downloading games, adult content, free programs (freeware/shareware) and other software applications. You can also get these from clicking on random ads that pop-up when you browse the internet. Also, you can obtain adware from ‘trusted’ applications as well. Examples include Limewire, Weatherbug, Kazaa, AIM, and Yahoo! Messanger, to name a few. Having a good anti-virus application running can prevent some most viruses and malware from entering onto your computer. However, all the security in the world will still not stop a computer from getting infected if the user on the machine is not aware of what they may be doing. Also, having too much security can and will limit your web browsing experience when trying to reach online courses and other material that is deemed to be ‘safe’. Many anti-virus/internet security programs cannot tell the difference from ‘bad’ content and ‘good’ content, so the application will just block everything, thus limiting your ability to view content.
10. “Other websites are not slow, only yours”
If you are using any of our LMSs, especially Vista, and other websites seem to load very quickly but navigating the LMS is slow; there may be several reasons why this is the case. Going to a website like Google (http://www.google.com) and observing the site load fast is not necessarily a good comparison against a system such as WebCT Vista. Google, along with many other websites are very simple and do not require much from your computer to display. For example, when you first login to the Vista LMS, the Java Runtime Environment that is located on your computer will need to load. If you have a computer that is slow; or has a lot of programs already running; or Java is already in use, it may take longer than normal to login to your account. Your experience navigating through the system may also be slowed if your computer is old or experiencing problems.
There are times, however, where the LMS may be under heavier than normal load which will cause a period of slowness. Generally, these heavy load times occurr during add/drop periods, nightly system maintenance, and final exams.