slow net after SP2 install?

After installing SP2 my internet dropped from 4MB/s+ to like 0>1 MB/s...
I have ABSOLUTELY NO Virii/malware (FRESH windows install, fully wiped drives then reinstalled) And then got the updates and installed SP2 and now my ping is abysmal! It used to be 20-50 on a Gameserverhq.com (USWest) server (im on the west coast and the servers 10 min from where i live) and my ping suddenly hasen't dropped from 600-800 (on Counter Strike Steam). I used testmy.net and my ping is still horrific!

 

Do you have any software firewalls running? If so then maybe try turning off the windows fireall that would have been turned on when you installed service pack 2. Don't know if it will help much, but it might

 

May be you need to Optimize the TCP/IP Stack: http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html

 

I run Avast Antivirus 3 providers and Windows antispyware,Zone alarm personal firewall. The firewalls im running are the SP2 firewall, Zone alarm, and windows firewall. Its just avast that slows me WAY down.... anyway to disable avast during startup?

 

If I read you correctly, it sounds like you are running two firewalls. This is not advised, as they can interfere with each other - which may be the source of your trouble. I recommend disabling the Windows firewall, and just using ZoneAlarm.

It is never a good idea to disable your anti-virus protection at any time for any reason. Some programs direct this be done before they are installed because it can interfere with the installation. In that case you should physically disconnect your PC from the internet, and re-enable the anti-virus program once the installation is complete.

 

Just to put in my two cents, I totally disagree with Natakel with the notion that running two firewalls is not advisable. It is in otherwords called "Defense-in-depth" and is recomended in every single security course I have ever went to. Especially by SANS or any of the GIAC courses.

On the other hand, using two software firewalls on the same machine may cause issues if they are not configured properly. This is especially true when using ZoneAlarm. For a home user, or even a really small business, the SP2 firewall and the router firewall are usually good enough. Your not really a big enough target for anything else.

Given that you have stated that it is only Avast that slows you down, I would say the firewalls are not the issue. I have had some issues with our antivirus slowing down our development workstations to a crawl. This is mostly caused by the hundreds of thousands of little files used when compiling certain programs or making MSI's. I had to disable the real-time scanning of certain directories. While this is unfortunate and defiantely not advised, it was the only way to speed up those workstations. It sounds to me like the virus scanner has too much to scan. If you turn the virus scanner off and it works fine then that would almost definately be the case (assuming your machine has the correct resources).

 

wow, yesterday(June 5, 2005) my internet would just not work on either of the computers in our network, we called Comcast, that didnt help, they sent a tech out, he replaced cables and fittings, STILL didnt help, and then 3 hours after he came the internet is perfectly fine and runs faster than ever.... Suspicious eh? Internet only works on my comp, not on the other comp in my network... odd......