Broadband to Dialup

Hello, I have an issue that may or may not have a fix. I have a computer that at one time used a broadband internet connection. When I aquired the machine, I had to go to dialup because broadband is not available in the area. After installing the dialup settings, I have no problem getting on line and using IE6. My problem is: when I am connected to the net, across the top of the page, (title bar) it names the web page as it should, yet it says "Internet Explorer provided by (Broadband Provider Name). For some reason,I believe that the former providers settings are overriding my new settings, because the bps speed is quite less than par with my other machine. The broadband had an external modem, which plugged in the back of the machine in the "ethernet" slot, my dialup of course is plugged in the "line in slot". Both of my machines share the same phone line "but not at the same time". I have contacted the previous broadband provider to see if there were settings that I needed to "undo" on their behalf, and they as much told me to figure it out myself because I am not a customer of theirs. (Nice Attitude). I have cleaned temp internet folders including off line content, ran AdAware, Spybot, Awido, and AVG Free. Can anyone give me any advice. My OS is Windows XP Home As always, Thanks in advance.

 

hello. the only thing that I can offer you for advise is to stop using Internet Explorer. It has always had alot of bugs and things in it. You can still keep it on your computer, but I highly suggest that you use Mozilla Firefox for your web browser. You can download it at www.firefox.com. I use it at home and I install it on my customers computers with new and used(repaired) machines with no complaints.
One item to note when you first use firefox, it will ask you if you want firefox to be your "default browser", click ok or yes. That should fix your problem. Now if you dont want to use firefox and still keep Bill Gates happy and use IE, then I suggest uninstalling it and reinstalling it.
If you have any more questions please repost.

Bowhunter

 

You might try opening the Add/remove programs in Control Panel to see if there is something related to the broadband software that can be uninstalled. A lot of people think they have to load the software provided to make the broadband operate. All it really does is things like adding the free advertising on the title bar and possibly an addition toolbar.

 

Bowhunter, that is no fix for the question.. I use Firefox also, but the question has to do with the IE titlebar..

MayMay, I believe the reason for the titlebar name is a registry entry.. Follow TowGuys advise and see if that does it.. If not, it'll be something that won't hurt the 'puter, but you'll have to live with until the time you might do a reinstallation of Windows..

 

Thanks all for your advice. I will download FireFox. In regards to uninstalling IE6 and reinstalling, how would I do that without doing a windows reinstall. And once I uninstall IE6, how would I get to Windows to get the reinstall.

 

I think you're going to find that it's fixable via the add/remove programs. Don't sweat anything past checking that first.

 

You really should reformat the hard drive, reinstall the operating system and start over.

Actually, the person who gave it to you should have done that, but they didn't, most likely out of ignorance.

Until and unless you do, you are taking a lot of risk.

 

Thanks for all the good advice

 

what you have is a "branded" version of I.E. There is a hack to put any thing you want up there, but thats not important. the "branded" version should not be affecting your connection, however the last owner may have applied a software "tweak" or manually changed some registry settings to make windows work better with broadband. If you have all the programs/disks/drivers you need to format, you should do so,as racraft pointed out. It's always nice to start with a fresh clean machine. no surprises that way.
what are you using to guage your bps? most modems are flexable, and the connection speed can move up or down during the logged on time. Your connection speed that you see when you first sign on may not be the true connection speed. this is changeable in the modem properties. is it substantially slower while on the net?
the computer itself may be slower in some way, like less memory,slower hard drive,worse graphics adapter, slower processor, etc.
Start fresh and format and install the O.S. i always prefere to take out any add in cards while doing this, and once windows is installed, i add them and their drivers one by one.best way i think.

 

Disks and drivers are not available for this machine. I was told that when the previous owner tried to make recovery cd's, the cd rom was inop, so they used up the one try only option. I agree that I should start fresh, but I do not believe I have that option without spending some more cash. my bps guage is the icons on the task bar and the status menu.

 

whats the make and model #?

 

Compaq Presario S6020WM

 

With Windows Home edition SP1

 

you can download drivers and order recovery disks from here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&product=391951&os=228

you can do a recovery from the hard drive even if you have made disks. take a look here to see how:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&docname=bph07145
HP PCs that ship with Microsoft Windows XP do not come with recovery CDs. Instead, they use a hidden space (partition) on the hard drive to store the recovery information. The use of a hidden partition provides a convenient process that eliminates the use of recovery discs that may be lost or scratched. Recovery discs for Windows XP are available from HP for a minimal cost. Go to the section " Related support " for ordering information. Your PC may also contain Recovery Creation software.
CAUTION: A destructive recovery will format the hard drive. This will delete all the information on the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP and the original software that came with the computer. Of course, this is what you want to do.

 

tae: Your links are not directing me when I click on them. They are not changing color when I pass the curser over them, they are remaining grey. I believe they are not turned on. Tried both IE and FF. What do I need to do.

 

Copy and paste them. UBB code is apprently disabled, so there are no direct links.

You should have received restore discs, or have a restore partition on the hard drive.

 

I had to replace a dead hard drive in a Presario a couple of years ago, and they did not have the restore disks. Since the old hard drive was dead, I couldn't make disks or restore from the drive. I ordered the disks from Compaq...cost ~$15 but they shipped them overnight. It was well worth the price for the hassle it saved! Tae's link shows how to order them.

 

There may be no need to reinstall or reformat anything, all that this will do is give you a lot of work for nothing.

As tae says, the Internet Explorer you have is probably just a branded version. It should work just the same as any other. I have an AT&T branded version of Internet Explorer and have used it fine through two changes in ISP.

You should start off by defining the problem. What is the problem you are seeing? How slow is your system - what speed are you actually getting through dialup? What speed do you get on your other machine? Are they using the same type of modem - you may have a 56kb modem on one machine and a slower one on the other.