ICTO Tips – Boosting up Network Speed

1) Turn off unnecessary application software running in background

Turn off unnecessary application software (such as downloading software) to ensure that the application software you use gets the maximum available Internet bandwidth and computer resources.

2) Check the network and computer resources utilization (for Windows)

1. Right-Click on the taskbar and choose “Task Manager” from the menu.



2. In the list of Processes, click the “Network” heading to sort the list of running processes by network usage.



The example above shows that, Firefox has occupied 15.0 Mbps of bandwidth for a long time due to downloading large files, which will affect software that performs other network activities at the same time. To prevent unnecessary software from consuming bandwidth, you can close the software or suspend related tasks. At the same time, you should also pay attention to the CPU usage to avoid high CPU usage for a long time (>90%).

3) Avoid multitasking at the same time

If you conduct online classes, meetings, watch online videos, perform upload and download tasks, and browse web pages at the same time on a single device, this may exceed the processing capacity of the device or the network. It is recommended that users stop or suspend the use of download software (such as Thunder, BitTorrent (BT), eMule, etc. that operate through the P2P protocol) to ensure the quality of the Internet connection.

4) Schedule software update

We recommend scheduling software updates during free time so as not to affect your important work.

5) Priority use of wired network

In order to ensure the stability of the network, it is recommended to use the wired network connection first.

6) Regularly check for viruses and other malware on your device

Viruses and other malicious software may consume a lot of bandwidth and damage your device. For security reasons, please make sure that antivirus software is installed and scan your device regularly during spare time.

7) Avoid downloading large files during peak hours

21:00 to 00:00 in the evening is usually the busiest time of the local Internet, and the Internet network connection will be congested. It is difficult to guarantee the speed of Internet network after leaving the campus network, especially the network speed of the upstream provider. If you want to download large files, please try to avoid this busy period. ICTO will continue to monitor Internet network conditions, optimize traffic management and implement effective improvement methods.