it actually helped!

[geronimotwo]

we have been getting bogged down with our web browsing lately.  i finally decided to upgrade our version of ms internet explorer as i heard that ie9 was faster.  in order to do that i needed to download the last two service packs for vista as well.  also, there were 106 other updates that were recomended when i was done doing that.  holy cow, it worked!  we went from 40 second downloads to under 10 for the same content!

[dogmush]

we have been getting bogged down with our web browsing lately.  i finally decided to upgrade our version of ms internet explorer as i heard that ie9 was faster.  in order to do that i needed to download the last two service packs for vista as well.  also, there were 106 other updates that were recomended when i was done doing that.  holy cow, it worked!  we went from 40 second downloads to under 10 for the same content!

Vista? If you think ie9 helped upgrade to windows 7.

[Gewehr98]

Dogmush speak true.

Two identical machines here in the house, one running WinXP Pro SP3, one running Win 7 Pro SP1.  Same hardware, different OS.

With our Charter 30MBps service, the latter will show 60MBps on Speakeasy Speed Test, the former 20MBps. 

Dunno if it's different WinSock implementations, better NIC drivers, IE9 vs. IE8, or something else, but it's definitely noticeable.

[geronimotwo]

is that running 64bit, or 32?

[Tallpine]

Well, don't worry about it.

Pretty soon they will update the websites with so much crap that it will run slow again.

[Gewehr98]

In the example of the two identical IBM boxes, they're both 32 bit.

I have run 64-bit IE 10, 32-bit Firefox, and 64-bit Waterfox on this 64-bit Win 7 machine, and they all pull down 60Mbps no problem.  

However, I don't have a machine set up with 64-bit WinXP to compare...

[geronimotwo]

Vista? If you think ie9 helped upgrade to windows 7.

i would consider it if i could find a copy at a reasonable price.