Top 9 Ways To "Speed Up" Your Surfing

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved

http://www.thenetreporter.com

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It seems like fast never quite rates fast enough.



No matter how quickly something moves, especially on the

Internet, it could always move faster.



Email, web surfing, downloading files (legally of course),

none of them ever go as quickly as we want or expect.



Well, let me do my part to perpetuate this microwave oven

mentality (why must popcorn take 3 ½ minutes instead of 2?)

by giving you some tips and hints for making your online

experiences and overall computing as fast as possible (even

on a dial up connection).



** Hit The Accelerator **



Sensing a need for faster Internet access in markets where

broadband cable or DSL can't or won't go, Internet Service

Providers (ISP's) like NetZero offer Internet

"accelerators."



Using a system of caches, compression schemes, and other

technology to double or even triple your dial-up connection

speeds, Internet accelerators can save you hours spent

waiting for simple web pages to appear in your browser.

**

Though they won't work for everyone in every single

situation, check out www.netzero.com, www.propel.com and

www.slipstreamdata.com for more information.



** Clean Up Your Hard Drive **

Often a messy hard drive can contribute to slow online

experiences. Perform a "Disk Cleanup" and a "Defrag"

(available by clicking , , then
Tools>) to clean out the garbage files on your hard drive

that slow your system down considerably.



This will help when running offline applications too.



** Get More RAM **



RAM (Random Access Memory) allows your computer to process

data more quickly without writing and reading from the hard

drive.



Ask any nerd and they'll tell you straight out, "You can

NEVER have too much RAM!" RAM costs so little now that

virtually anyone can afford to add more memory without a

big hit to their wallet.



** Avoid Time Wasters **



Speeding up your surfing doesn't just mean pulling the

maximum amount of data through your phone line until it

melts!



It also means avoiding things that suck your time up and

leave you sitting twiddling your thumbs instead of getting

things done.



Make the most of your time online with these time-saving

tips:



Use Google - Search giant, Google.com, consistently returns

relevant search results in minimum time.



Sure, big search engines like Dogpile.com and AskJeeves.com

query multiple search engines, but the time spent waiting

for and then wading through those results rarely makes it

worth the occasional extra result.



Avoid Instant Messenger - "Heresy! I must have my instant

messenger" you cry! Keep a log of how much time gets spent

mindlessly chatting on the IM instead of doing something

important. If you must IM, do it in moderation.



Filter Spam - Use a program to filter your spam instead of

wading through it by hand. Even if you only get 25 spam

messages a day (I'd love to be you) and only spend 10

seconds on each message, at the end of a year that comes

out to over 30 hours wasted on spam!



Filter your email messages before you take the time to

download them to your machine and you'll love the spare

time that magically comes your way.



** Slow Mouse? **



When I flick my wrist I expect that mouse to hop from one

side of the screen to the other like the house was on fire!



A slow mouse can steal seconds of precious time that add up

to hours of frustration over weeks and months.



If you suffer from a "slow mouse," click then

"Control Panel" then "Mouse".



Then you'll see a tab that says "Pointer Options" or

"Motion" (or something similar) and you can adjust the

slider left or right to increase or decrease the speed of

your mouse's movement across the screen.



** Use Windows Keyboard Shortcuts **



Windows has a number of nifty keyboard combinations that

most people don't know about, but can save you incredible

amounts of time, energy, effort and frustration.

+Z - I call this the "panic button."



Hold down the "Ctrl" key and hit the letter Z and you can

often undo the last action you took in Windows.



This comes in especially handy when you've deleted

something (like a term paper or 500 word article) and want

it back.



If you accidentally do something wrong, STOP hitting keys

immediately and do +Z to undo what you just did.



+D - Ever wonder what the little "flag" key is

on the keyboard next to "Alt?" (I sure have wondered.)



Well, it turns out that little key has some cool uses.



Hold down +D and you can minimize all the open

windows on your desktop.



Very handy when you keep many programs running and need to

hit your desktop in a hurry. +F - allows you

to search for any file on your computer immediately.



It will amaze you how much faster you can get things done

just by understanding how to save little bits of time here

and there using shortcuts, tools and better ways of doing

things.



About The Author:



Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the

co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how

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