Hi murasame,

Firstly, I would really like to commend you and thank you for being such an absolute darling!! You have been soooo helpful to countless computer illiterates and confused like me, and so incredibly patient with everyone who keeps asking repetitive questions (even tho the answers are there if people just take the time and patience to read through all the posts carefully). So i'd like to say a big THANK YOU!! So rare these days to find people with patience and generosity of spirit!!

I've managed to work out the maths a little, but still a little uncertain about other aspects, can I ask your advice on this?

My upload speed is 64KB, and download speed is 436KB, ADSL connection. Upload set at 100%, slots - 3 uploads per person, max 10 upload slots. Max download slots - originally set at 8, but i cut it down to 4.

I've tried to follow the last step f which you had recommended, but I'm afraid I do not really understand. Let's say, e.g. I am doing a simultaneous download of 3 files, 2 from Cable/DSL and 1 from T1, how do I know if the combined speed is near my max download bandwith? I presume the total no of files I d/l simultaneously will affect the speed, so I try not to d/l more than 3 or 4 files at the same time.

However, most of my download speeds are really slow - most of the time at 0KB/sec, takes about 1 - 3 hours on average to d/l one file. Is this normal? Is there anyway I can adjust my settings to optimise my speeds? Or could it be that I am located in Asia be one of the key factors for the turtle speed? (I'm assuming that most of the hosts/servers are located far far away in US )

One last question: under Connection, what do those figures under Bandwidth (I/O) and Dropped (I/O) mean to laymen like me?

What an understatement - you have definitely helped tons of clueless people here like me!! Thank you so very much!!

Cheers,
Aggie.