Desktop PC download speed is slow. In Safe Mode the download speed is fast. How to search for thing that is slowing the downloads?

[Doodski]

How can I figure out what is slowing down my desktop PC web downloads?
I only use and used Google Chrome for surfing. I never use any other browser but I did try the speedtest on Edge and the download speed is still slow so the web browser download speed slowdown is common to both Chrome and Edge.
I stopped all the fluff startup software and the download speed is still slow.
I used CC Cleaner and deleted the following from my desktop gaming PC but the download speed is still slow.

and...

Here are the startup programs. I stopped all but the important core ones and the slow download speed still persists. I started them again before I forgot what I stopped.

 

[blueone]

What is the hardware and OS configuration?

 

[Doodski]

@blueone
ASUS motherboard, ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI
Win10
32GB RAM
Samsung 980 PRO NVMe M.2 PCI-E x4 SSD, 1TB
Intel Core™ i5-12600K Processor - 12 Gen Alder Lake
RTX 3070Ti

 

[antcollinet]

Use MS config to look at not just your startup items, but also services.

How to Open and Use MSConfig on Windows 10 - MiniTool Partition Wizard

This post shows you how to open and use MSConfig on Windows 10.

www.partitionwizard.com

 

[sam_adams]

@Doodski, check this link and see if that changes anything.

 

[Doodski]

@Doodski, check this link and see if that changes anything.

I disabled the Bitdefender firewall and the speed was still slow. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[sam_adams]

I disabled the Bitdefender firewall and the speed was still slow. Thanks for the suggestion.

You might try downloading newest BD installer, then uninstall version installed and then install new version.

 

[Doodski]

Use MS config to look at not just your startup items, but also services.

How to Open and Use MSConfig on Windows 10 - MiniTool Partition Wizard

This post shows you how to open and use MSConfig on Windows 10.

www.partitionwizard.com

I was looking in there although there are so many services and all the running services have official sounding names.
Should I start by disabling one service at a time till I either find something or run out of running services?

 

[sam_adams]

I was looking in there although there are so many services and all the running services have official sounding names.
Should I start by disabling one service at a time till I either find something or run out of running services?

Unless you know exactly what those services are doing, you should not touch them. You may start something that Windows will finish for you. Just try disabling BD—especially the http scanning service if it is enabled—then go to a trusted site that has big files for downloads (Apple support or Microsoft Security catalog site) and test your download speed.

 

[Doodski]

OK. Thanks again for the help.

 

[sarumbear]

How can I figure out what is slowing down my desktop PC web downloads?
I only use and used Google Chrome for surfing. I never use any other browser but I did try the speedtest on Edge and the download speed is still slow so the web browser download speed slowdown is common to both Chrome and Edge.
I stopped all the fluff startup software and the download speed is still slow.
I used CC Cleaner and deleted the following from my desktop gaming PC but the download speed is still slow.
View attachment 280944
and...
View attachment 280945
Here are the startup programs. I stopped all but the important core ones and the slow download speed still persists. I started them again before I forgot what I stopped.
View attachment 280946

What is consuming CPU cycles? Can we see the Task Manager's Performance Window? You may have a malicious software that is consuming your bandwidth?

 

[Doodski]

What is consuming CPU cycles? Can we see the Task Manager's Performance Window? You may have a malicious software that is consuming your bandwidth?

Yes, here it is. This is the CPU performance during and after doing a speed test. I should have a gig down according to my plan.

 

[pablolie]

You can go into resource monitoring and check what's using what. Not sure what your security apps are... my corporate computer is 70% slower than my personal workstation when connected to the exact same network because of all the extra "security" (aka activity spying) crap on it, some of which seems redundant and repetitive but it is a losing fight with corporate IT. Check which services are running and -if it's YOUR machine- check if you have redundant stuff running that impacts network processing.

Run a Speedtest with a device that is streamlined for speed, then do the same test on the device that you think runs slow.

This applies to a network that is yours. If it's a shared network, there are tools to check what consumes bandwidth on your router.

 

[pablolie]

Yes, here it is. This is the CPU performance during and after doing a speed test. I should have a gig down according to my plan.
View attachment 280951

In my experience, most standard computers don't get much over 600M on their own. The Ethernet port is typically 1G, *but* the Ethernet protocol has overhead, so you will not get a 1G readout.

 

[sarumbear]

Yes, here it is. This is the CPU performance during and after doing a speed test. I should have a gig down according to my plan.
View attachment 280951

It is showing you downloading something from the Internet at a speed of 208Kbps, which is most likely a large chunk of your connection's entire bandwidth. Investigate every app that is running and find what is using the bandwidth. (Ask help if you want to know more about this.) The fact that this doesn't happen on Safe Mode may mean that you have malicious software running in the background.

Use Resource Monitor to find which apps are connecting to the internet. Open Run and type RESMON.

Windows keeps track of which applications are using your network and how much data they’re transferring. You can see which apps have used your network over the past 30 days and how much data they’ve transferred. To find this information, head to Settings > Network & Internet > Data Usage. Click “View usage per app” at the top of the window.

 

[LTig]

You didn't say anything about your internet connection but if you use a modem log into its web site and check the speed of download and upload link. Then use a command line tool like wget or to download a big file (or maybe yt-dlp for video) to check the download speed..

 

[Graham849]

Often overlooked is the built-in telemetry that Micro$oft has ticking over in the background.

This may help https://www.geekbits.io/how-to-disable-telemetry-on-windows-10/

 

[Doodski]

I uninstalled ASUS Armour Crate and Nvidia GForceExperience and now downloads are much faster but still about 1/2 of spec.. My download speed went from ~140 down and 100 up to ~435 down and 100 up.

 

[Doodski]

How does this look for a 1G down plan? Is this about right for a 1g speed. This is the best result I have after uninstalling the ASUS and Nvidia fluff software.

 

[sarumbear]

How does this look for a 1G down plan? Is this about right for a 1g speed. This is the best result I have after uninstalling the ASUS and Nvidia fluff software.
View attachment 280954

How fast is your Wi-Fi connection. What type it is? You are measuring your Wi-Fi speed.