If you're suffering from a poor connection speed there are a few simple steps you can take to make sure your service is running as quickly as possible:

Check the Service Status

Contact your Internet Service Provider and check your connection status.

If there are no reported problems in your area, try the following steps:

Are you using firewall and anti-virus software?

Find out how changing your security settings can speed up your connection.

Do you have music downloading or shareware (peer-to-peer software) running in the background?

If you are downloading large files or running peer-to-peer (P2P) software programs such as Kazaa, Morpheus or eMule your bandwidth is being used up and your connection will slow down significantly. To improve your broadband connection speed simply cancel your download.

Are there any programs running in the background which may be affecting your connection speed?

'Spyware', 'Adware' and 'Malware' (short for "malicious software") programs are not immediately obvious and may be running on your machine. The website Spywareguide.com has information on these programs and how to remove them - try their "Online Spyware Scan" for a free check-up.

Ensure your connection equipment is set up correctly.

Make sure your connection equipment (telephone line, cables, router and modem) is set up correctly. You should visit the support area of your manufacturers's website.

If you aren't able to access web pages, have you been given access to the Internet?

If your business is connected to the Internet via a network and you're a Secondary User, you may find your internet connection blocked, and you may only have access to email. Therefore just ask the person in your company who looks after the internet connection (that's the primary user of your broadband account) if you can have your 'email only' user account modified to allow internet access.

Reset your modem or computer

Finally, you can also reset your modem or router in order to speed up and refresh your internet connection.