What to Do If Your Downloads Are Taking Too Long

Slow downloads are not only annoying but can also cost you a lot of time and effort. Fortunately, there’s a very simple way to fix this problem which even a beginner can do. Here are the steps you should take to fix the slow downloads on your computer:

Step 1 – Check Internet Speed – The speed of your Internet connection is essential if you want fast downloads. Nowadays, a typical broadband connection is considered fast if it’s over 1mb/s in speed. This basically means that the connection has the ability to download files at 100kb/s (the download speed is 1/10th of your overall connection speed). To test what speed you’re getting to your computer, you should Google “Broadband Speed Test” and then click on the first link. Run the test on the website and if it’s below your expectations, you should contact your Internet provider.

Step 2 – Check Download Server Speed – If your connection is okay, the problem might lie in the “server” speed” of the download server. Whenever you download a program off the Internet, you PC is basically connecting to another PC (called a ‘server’) and downloading a series of files from that. If the Internet connection of the other PC is poor then your downloads are going to be very slow. This is a problem which cannot be fixed but you can try and avoid it by using another download server. You’ll have to Google the file name you want and it should show you some different servers (known as “mirrors”).

Step 3 – Clean Out The Registry – One of the biggest causes of slow downloads is actually thanks to Windows itself. Many computers end up making their downloads run slow because the settings inside them are unable to be read quickly or smoothly. This is a problem which even the most advanced of Windows systems cannot avoid and is where your computer will actually save many of its most important settings in the wrong way, corrupting & damaging them. This will make them unable to be read – which means that when you PC wants to download a file and it needs to read a series of settings to do that, it will end up taking a lot longer than normal.

Most slow downloads can be fixed by cleaning out the ‘registry’. The registry is where all the settings for your PC are kept, and is where Windows looks for a series of ‘download settings’ each time you want to download a file. These settings show Windows how to download files at the fastest rate possible, and its vital that they are in the correct standing. To clean out the registry, you can use a ‘registry cleaner’ which is a software application that scans through all the settings on your PC and fixes them.