Help for National customers

Here's a list of things you can do to help make sure you always get the fastest surfing speeds possible:

• It is always a good idea to close the programs you aren't using on your computer when you are on the Internet. Unused programs, especially those that use graphics or video and audio, can sometimes clog up broadband connections and slow down your surfing speeds.

• Try to do one thing at a time while you are on the Internet. If you download files, use a Web browser, send emails and read newsgroups all at the same time, none of them are likely to be as fast as they could be!

• Optimise your Web browser. For tips on ensuring that your Web browser is set up to download Web pages with maximum efficiency, see this article on Optimising your web browser.

• Free up space on your computer by carrying out some quick and easy clean-up tasks. Your computer can sometimes become cluttered with unnecessary files that could affect broadband performance. For more information, see this article on Optimising your computer.

• Always run the latest available versions of programs that use the broadband connection, such as mail or news programs. This kind of software is usually tweaked all the time to improve performance. Go to the Web site of the company that produces the software, and check whether upgrades are available.

• Turn off file sharing programs (also known as peer-to-peer software, or P2P). Examples of this kind of software are Napster, Kazaa, iMesh, eMule, BitTorrents and BBC iPlayer. This type of software can consume a large chunk of your connection speed. Remember, too, that your broadband speed can only be as fast as the connection of the person you are downloading from.

• Reboot your router regularly – you know how rebooting your computer can sometimes improve things? The same is true of your router. We suggest that once a month you do a reboot of your router, and every device it connects to (including your computer). For details, see this article on How to check and reboot the router.

• Check that your computer has the minimum system requirements for broadband. Your Virgin Broadband service cannot run smoothly unless your PC or Mac meets the requirements for a broadband connection. (Just to let you know, we no longer support users of Windows 98 and Windows ME.)