My OS is Vista on an older desktop. I haven't used this PC in some time as I was away.
It worked fine when I last used it and no one touched the PC. Now, the PC requires a lot of updating but I can't download anything.
I'm connected to the Internet because I can get to my Google home page and I can access Gmail. But,very little ELSE. If I search in Google it will show the sites but instead of opening the sites it either just stalls or shows at the bottom of the page that it is downloading that site? If i try more than one ,each one stalls or shows that it's downloading. Along with other programs I'm told that Windows needs 71 updates but it just stalls when I attempt to update that or download anything. I've also tried Firefox and IE, no better.

Sending this request from my laptop.

Sure would appreciate some help with this problem. overthehillDo a CHECK of your speeds @ speedtest.net...On my laptop ping 47ms
Down 6.54 Mbps
Up 0.64 Mbps

On the desktop when going to speedtest.net (and it's more than I usually get)what showed up is in the attached Word doc.

Thanks for responding.overthehill

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]This recommendation is a diagnostic. The onjective is to determine if the issue is software or hardware.
Try a Linux Live CD. This is a Linux version that can run from the CD and not require full installation. My favorite is Pippy Linux. You can put it on a USB or a CD. You will have to set you BIOS to boot from a CD or USB.
If the Linux system works good on the internet, you can know that it MUST be a software system issue and not your old hardware.
http://puppylinux.org/
If you are sure it is software, just ignore this post. Well Geek your idea was great. You are the Geek. I wish I would have thought of Linux.

I haven't used this OS in such a long time that I even forgot that I had loaded Ubuntu on this PC. Anyway Ubuntu ran without a hitch.
So, a number of years ago I had backed up my system using Paragon and last evening I did a restore and it certainly appears that things with Windows are back to normal. As long as I can get through a numerous amount of updates it looks like I'm OK.

Thank you so much, overthehill