DRIVERS CAN INCREASE SPEED
Issue 11, June 2000
By Tom Thomas
Director of Technical Services

Today's Internet craves speed. With the advent of chat programs, large picture and movie trailer downloads and fast-paced trading of stocks over the Internet, speed has become a hot commodity. But how can you juice up your connection speed? You could change your analog dial-up access to a digital ISDN dial-up connection. For several different reasons, an ISDN connection would greatly increase your connection speed. But in order to do this, you need a new ISDN modem installed in your computer and an ISDN telephone line installed to your house - both are slightly more expensive than the traditional analog counterparts.

So what can you do if you are stuck with the regular modem technology? First, you can make sure that you have the fastest analog modem available - currently a V.90 compatible, 56K modem. The prices on these modems are currently very reasonable and an average one can usually be purchased for under $50. But what if you already have a 56K modem? Or what if you don't want to spend the extra money for the modem upgrade? Is there any hope that you still may be able to squeak out a little more speed with your current hardware configuration? The answer is a resounding, "YES!"

The modem hardware is only half of the equation in the analysis of Internet speed - the other half is in the modem's software drivers. New drivers are often released for old hardware that can increase performance or even add new features. For this reason it is important to make sure that your driver configuration is up to date, especially if you are experiencing any connection problems or performance degradation in your connection speeds. Most device drivers are available either at the retail store where you bought your computer hardware or at the manufacturer's website - the latter of which is most likely to have the most up-to-date drivers available (you can often consult your owner's manual or the retail store where you purchased your computer to find out the manufacturer of your modem and their website.)

Once you have obtained the latest drivers, you can install them on your computer by following these few simple steps:

1. Open up your Control Panel then open up you System Settings by double-clicking on the System icon in your Control Panel.

2. Click on the Device Manager tab near the top of the System Properties window.

3. Make sure that the View devices by type radio button is selected then you will see a tree menu of your system's devices. Click on the "+" sign next to the Modem branch. This will reveal your modem that is installed.

4. Highlight the installed modem by clicking on it once, and then click the Properties button.

5. The modem properties window will appear, then click on the Drivers tab near the top.

6. Click on the Update Driver button near the bottom of the window then follow the step-by-step Driver Installation Wizard instructions.

By updating your modem drivers, you are ensuring that you are getting as much speed as possible out of the computer hardware setup that you have. It's free … It's relatively simple … so get out there and cruise the Internet with speed using new drivers!