Where the mother%^( does my download speed go?!

I can't believe it! After fooling with this topic FOREVER with dial-up, now with dsl my speeds have disappeared! I used to complain that my 5kbs optimal dial up speeds dwindled to half that, now I'm complaining my +/- 20 something kbs dsl speeds have dwindled to half that...

Ad-aware, spybot SD, mcafee show nothing. my system tray is clean. bho demon running. my bittorrent speeds are still optimal. leechget speeds still good. just regular downloading speeds have been cut in half. My bittorrent client isn't running, and I'm still at 9kbs.

Is there a program that will help me? One that I can use with minimal computer knowledge? thanks for any help...

dell 2400
win xp
256 mb mem

 

which 'regular downloads' are you referring to? download speeds also depend on the server that is supplying your download, so if you still get good speeds elsewhere, its likely not your line thats the issue.

try a speed test at www.dslreports.com to check for your line speed and be sure you're getting a decent conneciton.

 

By regular d'l I mean 'right click and save target...' without a manager or bittorrent...

But this is crazy... right now I'm trying to download WHILE my bittorrent client is running, and downloading, and getting good speeds...+/- 20kbs...
but bittorrent is slow,

now bittorrent is back up to speed and new 'regular' d'l is slow...

bittorrent can't hijack ports when it's not running, can it? I use Bitspirit, which is a good client, imo.

That gives a good lead, now just have to figure out what's going down...

 

Nothing out of the normal... I can't figure it out...thanks for the help.

 

I've been thinking about this... in BHO demon, the last version found acrobat ie helper as a bho and I blocked it. I think this helped with my dial up speeds. I just installed the new version of demon, and acrobat helper isn't showing up. Any suggestions? Acrobat might still be sucking my speeds, but how do I get demon to recognise it? I doubt it disappeared between installs of demon... thanks for any help