Why is my computer losing internet connection in layman's terms?

[scaredychicken]

bad weather
power outage
car accident nearby
tower's line of sight is blocked
snow - probably not this month
just needs a re-boot

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

My old Windows 7 machine has not been powered down since we moved in here, almost 3 years ago.

 

[tallyho8]

Are you using a wired or wireless connection from your Dell computer to your cable modem?

It is a wired connection. It is very fast but when I use wifi it is much slower.

 

[tallyho8]

Why not just turn off the computer when you're done using it for the day?

I think this latest problem started when I went on vacation for a week and turned it off. Every time it is off for a few days it seems like I have a different problem when I turn it back on. Besides that, it takes about 5 minutes to come back on and when you are in a hurry to do your computer chores and then get to other jobs, 5 minutes seems like an hour.

The time before that when I turned it off, when I turned it back on, Edge would not print pdfs anymore no matter what I tried so I had to switch to Firefox to print my pdfs. A few months ago Firefox did an update and wouldn't print my pdfs anymore so I had to uninstall it and install an older version that would print my pdfs. Now every time Firefox starts a screen comes up wanting me to update. If I accidently click on that instead of clicking dismiss, it updates and then I have to delete it and install the old version again.

 

[MossRoad]

It is a wired connection. It is very fast but when I use wifi it is much slower.

Thanks. And what operating system are you running, and how old is the PC?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I think this latest problem started when I went on vacation for a week and turned it off. Every time it is off for a few days it seems like I have a different problem when I turn it back on. Besides that, it takes about 5 minutes to come back on and when you are in a hurry to do your computer chores and then get to other jobs, 5 minutes seems like an hour.

The time before that when I turned it off, when I turned it back on, Edge would not print pdfs anymore no matter what I tried so I had to switch to Firefox to print my pdfs. A few months ago Firefox did an update and wouldn't print my pdfs anymore so I had to uninstall it and install an older version that would print my pdfs. Now every time Firefox starts a screen comes up wanting me to update. If I accidently click on that instead of clicking dismiss, it updates and then I have to delete it and install the old version again.

I recommend you install the Adobe Acrobat Reader to handle .pdf files. It's free. They own the format. They really know what they are doing. Either Firefox or Edge will use the Adobe code to display and print, or you can use the reader stand-alone for more print control over the document.

Adobe - Download Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

Download free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software for your Windows, Mac OS and Android devices to view, print, and comment on PDF documents.

get.adobe.com

 

[tallyho8]

Thanks. And what operating system are you running, and how old is the PC?

I'm using Windows 10 on a 3 year old Dell XPS. I updated to a HP about a year and a half ago and it was a piece of cr@p so I went back to my Dell.

 

[mikester]

Are you using a wired or wireless connection from your Dell computer to your cable modem?

I shut off the wireless and use a hard wired connection. Never have problems that way.

If you turn off your computer each time instead of hibernating your wireless will work better.

 

[lman]

I'm using Windows 10 on a 3 year old Dell XPS. I updated to a HP about a year and a half ago and it was a piece of cr@p so I went back to my Dell.

You should have a program called SupportAssist on your Dell. Run that if you haven't for any updates and to optimize your PC.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm using Windows 10 on a 3 year old Dell XPS. I updated to a HP about a year and a half ago and it was a piece of cr@p so I went back to my Dell.

Down by your clock in the right hand corner you should see an internet connection icon.

If you hover your mouse over that icon, it should tell you if you have internet connection or not.

You should be able to right-click your mouse on that icon and click disable or enable (as I recall).

So before going through rebooting your PC the next time it loses internet connection, first try hovering your mouse over that icon and seeing the status of your connection. EVEN IF IT SAYS CONNECTED, right click on it and disable it, wait a couple seconds, and re-enable/reconnect it and see if it works. If it does, at least you saved reboot time. If it doesn't then there's probably something in your network settings telling the network connection to sleep after timeout, your network hardware on your PC is getting flaky, or your router is messed up, in that order, I'm guessing.

So as suggested, check to see if your network connection is set to remain connected when the PC goes idle. If you don't know how to do that, you can google something like windows 10 network connection sleep and there are a bunch of helpful tutorials out there about that.