I am having a dilema and would really appreciate help.

We have been subjected to dial up until this past year when our local telephone provider put in fiber optic lines. Through the past 10 YEARS I have had EARTHLINK dial up and have now switched to DSL 3.MB speed. My problem is that something from within windows XP (home) is causing my INTERNET speed to remain at the dial up level rather than the 3.MB speed. Two other computers here at home are working just great - one with a Media Center OS and the other an XP (home) as well.

Have gone through the entire registry and removed anything and everything having to do with "earthlink" but am still having the rediculously slow speed. A "computer" friend came over and booted up with a Linux OS and the speed was just fine. We checked the network card, no problem.

Can you suggest something else to try or a different forum where I might find additional information? I have googled everything I can think of and have had no success.what OS does the problem computer have? have you TESTED it in safe mode with networking? tap F8 rapidly before windows loads..

what protections do you have?

Warning do not use safe mode instead of normal mode to surf the web because in safe mode only the basic things are start to make your computer run and your protection progrgam will not be running and thus not protecting youThis computer has Windows XP-Home, SP1 and currently running Norton. However, this problem existed while using PC-Cillin and then without any anti virus program, so it isn't the programs which are slowing things down.why don't you have SP2 its very important in protecting your computerHow are you connected ? ? Wireless or thru a router ?
How is the network connection setup ? ?
Was there any software for the DSL setup that needs to be on the problem machine ? ?The two of us are networked through a router. Haven't any idea how the network connection is set up. Could you be more specific and I will look?

There was software but we were told by the service provider that we did not need it and the tech who set the computers up said the same thing. Why would the other one work just hunky-dorey and this one not if it was a networking issue? Any clues?maybe try a different cable running from router to computer (if wired)