Keep your PC updated with antivirus and spyware programs, install plenty of RAM, check your band width, use the browser that has the best performance on your PC – and do not use your PC to play your children’s computer games.

With the right browser for your PC and a few, simple adjustments, you can speed up your e-conomic experience.
The criteria for a good user experience with a web application like e-conomic are of course individual. But if you prioritise speed, I will give you a few tips on how to optimise your user experience.

Protect your PC

Sad, but true: a PC without an updated antivirus program and a program that protects you from unwanted software/spyware (such as Windows Defender) is particularly susceptible to becoming infected with “diseases”, which slowly but surely will prevent your PC from operating properly. Therefore, keep your PC updated with antivirus programs, Windows updates, etc.

Optimise your PC memory (RAM)
Your PC records the information it receives in two different ways: on the hard drive and in the memory (RAM). Information that is stored in your PC memory is 1,000 times faster to find and use than information on your hard drive. Therefore, it is always a good idea to have plenty of RAM (preferably more than 1 GB). In this way, your PC will not have to write to disk all the time, which will increase web performance considerably.

In Internet Explorer 7 and 8, you can also optimise the use of both RAM and hard drive. For example, in Internet Explorer 8, you can set your browser to use a smaller portion of your hard drive to store your memory data (Temporary Internet files), e.g. to 50 MB, under Internet Options.

Check your band width
The amount of information your PC can receive from the internet, is listed as megabits per. second (Mbit). Check your connection with your ISP to make sure that you have at least a 2 Mbit download connection. You can also test your band width online, e.g. at beelinebandwidthtest.

Choose the right browser
There are a number of browsers that you can use to view pages on the Internet. We recommend that you use the more recognised browsers, and we guarantee that the Windows browsers Internet Explorer 7 and 8 as well as Firefox always work with e-conomic. Each browser has a different way of interpreting html, java and javascript, as well as a different way of using your PC’s RAM and hard drive.

Several websites offer browser speed tests. You should, however, note that some speed test providers have commercial interests and are not independent although they may appear so. Such browser speed test results are often based on a combination of your browser’s and your PC’s overall performance. I recently used Peacekeeper from Future Mark.

Most Internet users only have one browser installed on their PC, but I actually have 5 different browsers on mine. Out of these 5 different browsers, it is Safari 4 which performs best in a browser speed test, while the more common browsers that we support at e-conomic are in fact the slowest!

So what will happen if you use another browser than the ones we recommend? Generally speaking, the application will be running as usual, but there may be graphical differences related to the way in which the browser interprets the information it receives. You should, however, not be experiencing any functional differences.

This entry was posted on 30 June 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Tips & tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.