By Matt Lake and B. A. Nilsson

Back when the Internet was young, we waited forever for our favorite Web pages to load. We didn't know any better.

But now we do. Today, the Web isn't a novelty. It's a vital tool for commerce and communications, and slow-loading pages are a real pain in the butt. A lot of that can't be helped, because the Net--especially in the United States--suffers from massive overload. Current high-speed Internet lines still can't smoothly handle millions of users.

It's not all the Internet's fault, however. Part of the problem may be on your end. Slow hardware, incorrect Windows settings, even your phone line or ISP can all contribute to sluggish Web performance. So, although we can't cure what ails the Internet in general, we will show you step-by-step techniques that you can use to bring your Internet connection up to warp speed.

Track Your Data
If your Internet connection is slow, perhaps it's simply taking the long way home. You know those fancy steamer trunks you see in old movies, the ones that sport decals from dozens of exotic ports of call? There should be special decals for Internet data. Your computer might relay signals through ten or more different Internet routers before it reaches the site you want to visit, and any of those routers could be holding things up. But which one?

VisualRoute can tell you. This handy little program not only tracks your data's Internet path but also displays it on a map. It counts the hops (number of relays) your data takes and gives you IP addresses for each router (where possible), domain name, and location. VisualRoute times and graphs each hop, so you get a good look at where the slowdowns occur. Highlight a domain name, and the program automatically tells you which person or company owns the node in question.

To get a second, more bare-bones look at this phenomenon, try Tracert, a Net program that comes with Windows 95/98. Like VisualRoute, Tracert checks the path your data takes and shows you which router is slacking off. Tracert sends a signal, or ping, to each router that your data goes through on its way to the host server.

To run Tracert:

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The speed of your connection depends on the total response time of everything along the path. With VisualRoute or Tracert information, you can pinpoint exactly which router is wasting your time. It's quite satisfying to be able to direct blame at a specific culprit. Unfortunately, that's all these programs let you do. If your ISP is speedy but one of the routers in the chain is slow, you're pretty much out of luck. If your own ISP's servers are slow, however, consider finding another ISP.