Sudden slow wifi on laptop (unable to fix yet)

Ok, I have an Acer Aspire 4730Z laptop. I run the internet through my wifi, the service is provided by the apartment complex to everyone. It is an incredibly strong signal for the whole building, and I am right beneath the source so I have always had just an amazing speed on my internet.

The other day, while chatting on Facebook of all places, something happened (what I do not know) and the Firefox crashed. Since that moment the internet has been chugging. And I mean CHUGGING! It takes almost 2min just to load a page. (this is not consistent however some pages load faster) Downloading speeds have all but stopped (I don't know how to check for just how fast they are going) I can't even load up Youtube videos now its so slow.

forgot to add my stats here
Acer Aspire 4730Z
250gbhdd
dual core t3400
2.16 dual core intel processor
802.11b/g/draft-N WLAN

I tried several fixes for the problem, but being a noob I think I screwed it up worse because its even slower than before.

first I used Uniblue registry cleaner and speed upper thing. They just screwed up my computer even worse and it was taking forever just to open a file folder let along load a webpage. I did a system restore to undue that damage.

I tried resetting the autotuning. That did not work I even did an ipconfig/renew release thing. That almost did me in. I finally got the internet running again. still slow.

Help me please! I use a Voip phone and cannot use it because of this problem. Any help would be lifesaving.

Welcome!

Have you tried a System Restore to a point before the problem?

Hi there, thanks for the reply. yes I did a system restore to a couple of days before and was still having the problem. I recently did a malware search and found a couple of items, and have been cleaning out programs, and changing settings on my laptop to speed things up to counter act problem (which I know now is the computer and not the internet). It is working much better than before, but is still significantly slower than before.

Well since it was working before and still is working its not a driver problem. However, I think we can manage to speed it up if possible. Now remember, since everyone is sharing the same connection, if someone is downloading, or using a torrent or P2P client this will expotentionally decrease your speeds.

For now though lets see if we can get it running a lil faster for ya.

Start search > type ncpa.cpl > hit enter > this should now open a blank white screen with 2 or maybe just one icon > one icon is the wireless adapter > right click on it > choose properties > accept the UAC prompt > double click on TCP/IPv4 > this will open another window > down at the bottom where there is a small circle button > choose use these settings for DNS > in the fields type 8.8.8.8 and in the bottom field use 8.8.4.4

Hit apply then close both of those windows and try connecting to the wireless network and see if the speeds are any faster.

Please let us know if this does not fix the problem

Thanks for the advice. I have found that you are absolutely correct, there is a culprit on the network who is downloading (all day every day) and is using up the ENTIRE bandwith on the network. makes it almost impossible to even open a page sometimes. I have tracked down his IP address and am looking for ways to contact him/her to ask them to stop, or lower their usage.

As per your advice, I made the changes you recommended and it has made a difference. It is able to work just well enough for some of my needs! Thank you very much it definitely made a wonderful difference. I am now on my way to resolving this problem completely. Thanks again you guys here on the forums are truly wonderful! take care

I'm glad you got everything running

Hopefully everything gets sorted out and the connection speed comes back.