[AAr]

I have a slight preference to the regular version, but the Web version has the BINGO and seems to be slightly faster with the GIB tournaments.

My biggest beef with the Web Version: I have ATT Dialer and AOL Broadband. It's supposedly faster than AOL Dialup (I have to see evidence of this. Despite claims that this Internet is 90% faster than my old Internet, Malware (Spyware, background programs, registry errors, hard drive errors, etc.) seems to slow down the loading times just as much, if not slightly more now as before, even though they didn't claim that "It's 90% faster with a clean computer).

BTW, I feel that AOL and ATT lied to me about their about their Internet speed. While it faster, it's not to the extent they advertised. I knew I main problem was Malware and drive errors slowing down my surfing speed, and they didn't say 90% faster provided a clean computer. They said it would be 90% faster. And, I was very excited about having to scan and clean my computer once every week instead of once every two days, thinking that malware and drive errors would not slow down my surfing speed nearly as much as before. But, while my download time without malware slowing is much faster on a clean computer, the clutter and drive problems slows down surfing speed as before, and I have to now scan and clean once every day. Example: It before took 30 Seconds to load a website on a clean computer, but add two minutes to that time on the state my computer is 80% of the time (always with problems). Now, the base 30 seconds might be down to 3 seconds, but the problem time is still 2 minutes for a total of 2:03 instead of 2:30. And, if my math is correct, 2:03 (123 seconds) is much more than 10% of 2:30 (150 seconds).

But, the main problem is that I frequently have "Program Not Responding" errors with my ISP. It usually happens upon logging on (I usually log on to BBO first.), and when I try to load too many websites in a short time, but it sometimes happens randomly at any time.

With the regular Version and Broadband, I don't even have to be logged in to my ISP. Now, I will say that when I am logged on with my ISP, and it goes PNR, it sometimes BBO would do the same sometimes, but sometimes it'd run.

But, with the Web Version, I have to be logged on to my ISP. And, the Web Version is tied to my ISP window, so if my AOL goes into PNR Mode, not only would BBO be put on hold while this happens (And, three usually happens for about three minutes at a time, and sometimes two times consecutively), but I have to log back on, and that another minute or two. In any GIB race tourney, being down for as much as five minutes or more at a time is a killer.

I will say that once I got the new Internet, when I'm not having problems with PNR Errors, I do get more hands in Robot Race and Best Hand tournerys now than before. I previously would only get in about 12-15 hands, excluding passouts. Now, I do often get in 20-25 hands, excluding passouts.

So, my suggestion is this:

1. I know I have to be logged onto the Web Version for BINGO, but based on what I said above, would you recommend the Web Version for tourneys like Best Hand, Robot Race and the like, or would I be better off with the old version for this?

2. Would I be better off just playing in tourneys where time is less of a factor, such as Random Hands, MP Duplicate, or IMP Duplicate?


And, I do with I could play BINGO with the old version, but I can be understanding if this is not a possibilty.

I'm planning soon on ditching AOL Broadband and go to the ATT Internet. I was supposed to at the time I got my current Internet, but my Internet Explorer was broken at the time the ATT guy came to install it, so he had to hook me up with AOL Broadband instead. Will that likely improve my BBO performance?

[barmar]

I think you're being a unfair to AOL Broadband. All they can do is speed up the data -- if your computer can't keep up, how could they account for that in their advertising? A chain is only as strong as its weakest link -- if your computer is the bottleneck, that's your problem, not theirs.

Fix your malware issues, and I think all your problems should clear up. BBO, especially the web version, doesn't need a very fast connection, so I don't think changing ISPs will make much difference.

[AAr]

barmar, on 2012-February-28, 11:15, said:

Fix your malware issues, and I think all your problems should clear up. BBO, especially the web version, doesn't need a very fast connection, so I don't think changing ISPs will make much difference.

Well, I've been trying to fix the malware issues on my computer. I have five different programs that's supposed to block and clean malware, some of them I pay a monthly fee for, and none of them have worked nearly as good as advertised on my computer.

But, I will ask this: Is it probably just the malware that's causing the Program Not Responding errors with BBO that I was complaining about in the other thread, that is turning a 30 second log-in time to a three minute + log-in time, effectively sextupling the log-in wait time? I could see malware causing PNREs to double, maybe even triple the log-in time, but multiply it by six to seven? But, I don't see others complaining about it in that thread, so maybe it is my computer.

[mgoetze]

I'm not interested in replying to the actual question, but I would like to point out that "faster" is a very ambiguous term when talking about internet connections. Mostly it is used to mean "higher bandwidth", when what people actually want is "lower latency".

[barmar]

I'm not a Windows expert, so I can't be sure, but malware is definitely a good candidate for causing PNR. Network performance issues are not likely to cause this -- even when the program is waiting for data from the network, it still responds to system and user events.

Is BBO the only program that gets lots of PNRs?

[Antrax]

AAr, you can get a pretty accurate picture of your maximum upload/download speed by trying http://speedtest.net/
As for the malware issue, if you're willing to invest money in it (as you seem to be), just find the teenager everyone around you hail as the computer genius and pay him $50 to fix your computer. Should take him about 2-3 hours (most of which spent rebooting) and when he tries to be lazy about it, say no to the suggestion to reformat (Alternatively, if you're willing to reformat, that's the best solution and then you don't need to pay anyone anything)
Oh, and also there are dedicated forums for helping people like you fix their malware problems, but that would require a lot of patience on your part, it tends to be a pretty involved process.

[AAr]

barmar, on 2012-February-29, 21:40, said:

I'm not a Windows expert, so I can't be sure, but malware is definitely a good candidate for causing PNR. Network performance issues are not likely to cause this -- even when the program is waiting for data from the network, it still responds to system and user events.

Is BBO the only program that gets lots of PNRs?

No. As I stated in another thread, my AOL program also has the same problem.