Suddenly Slow DSL Speed but No Spyware Detected

I'm running Win98SE with a DSL connection through USB. My DSL speeds were suddenly cut to about half of what they were before. No network card to fail. No newly installed programs. No problems with ISP or line (spent time working through various tests with verizon who concluded problem was with my machine). No change in network settings (rwin, etc.). No detectable viruses or spyware using Mcafee, Spybot and Ad-Aware in addition to symantec and trend micro websites. Even used HJT to disable active-X controls that were unused (cult 3-d and RdxIE). Windows and IE updates all current. Same results using Firefox. But, start-up available resources has dropped by several percent even though no new start-up programs have been added.

I'm so confused. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

Make sure all your phone filtures are still working properly. Also how are you judging your speed? Speed tests? or just general time to download stuff.

 

Thanks. I've checked the filters and Verizon said they ran tests as well.

On speed, I'm using Verizon's own test site, dslreports and toast.net. All are pretty consistent.

One more thing I noticed is that the connection is sometimes as fast as I once was, but more often slow slow slow.

 

Does DSL suffer from conjestion the way Dial-up does?

It may be possible that there is too much traffic on your DSL server. If this is the case sometime reconnecting will return your normal speeds. If a connection lays dormant(unused), even though your still connected, some servers will lower your connections priority. Reconnecting to the server, resets your connections prioity and usually gives you a faster connection.

 

i'm having similar problem in that text loads pretty fast, but any graphics are very slow. would disconnecting dsl and letting reset work or do i have other problems?

 

Disconnecting from your DSL connection should be the same as it would be for a Dial-up. It won't hurt anything, and may improve your connection. This is not a guaranteed fix, as there may be other problems causing the slow down. I'm only mentioning this because you should always start with the simplest thing and work your way from there.