Last November, someone here mentioned having difficulty with staying connected to the Internet -- the person posting was using Sympatico service and talked about being cut off and having to redial several times? Now, this very problem has happened to me a *lot* over the last couple of years, maybe partly due to the type of modem that I have, but also it surely seems that phone line quality out here in the country is relatively poor, causing problems.
Now, I'm not trying to sell any computer programs or anything, but recently I searched the Internet and found a really helpful program for improving Windows modem settings and staying consistently connected to the Internet. This is the "Accelerate 2K2" program, available on a shareware trial basis from Webroot software. One thing that is very helpful about this program is that it has a "bad lines" option to help maintain a consistently working connection on poor phone lines. This works particularly well if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, *after* fairly recently rebooting your computer (with Accelerate 2K2 active, so the settings are "locked in" on rebooting). Unfortunately, this solution isn't perfect, since any intervening use of non-browser software can require another reboot to fine tune one's modem settings.
Given the importance of having a reliable Internet connection, I thought there might be lots of farm computer users out there who might want to try out the program that I've mentioned, at least for the two week trial period that's available (the program costs $20.00 US if you decide to buy it). You can easily look up Accelerate 2K2 on the Google searcher, for instance, and it's just well worth a try, especially if one is reasonably sure that the phone jacks in one's house aren't just loose (or that there is no similar hardware problem).
Now, I'm not trying to sell any computer programs or anything, but recently I searched the Internet and found a really helpful program for improving Windows modem settings and staying consistently connected to the Internet. This is the "Accelerate 2K2" program, available on a shareware trial basis from Webroot software. One thing that is very helpful about this program is that it has a "bad lines" option to help maintain a consistently working connection on poor phone lines. This works particularly well if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, *after* fairly recently rebooting your computer (with Accelerate 2K2 active, so the settings are "locked in" on rebooting). Unfortunately, this solution isn't perfect, since any intervening use of non-browser software can require another reboot to fine tune one's modem settings.
Given the importance of having a reliable Internet connection, I thought there might be lots of farm computer users out there who might want to try out the program that I've mentioned, at least for the two week trial period that's available (the program costs $20.00 US if you decide to buy it). You can easily look up Accelerate 2K2 on the Google searcher, for instance, and it's just well worth a try, especially if one is reasonably sure that the phone jacks in one's house aren't just loose (or that there is no similar hardware problem).