can you SLOW my computer down...literally??

WISKINITAWISKINITA san antonio, TEXAS
edited September 2006 in Science & Tech
Ok, this may sound REALLY stupid but here goes:

I was wondering if there is a way (program to do this) to slooooooow my computer down. I just bought a brand new Dell Precision 690 workstation with the Xeon Processor 5080 at 3.73GHz 2X 2MB L2 Cache 1066MHz with 2 gigs of SDRAM at 667MHz. It runs XP 64 bit at lightning speeds that I (being a newbie) didn't even know where possible. We are talking about web pages loading before I unclick the mouse button!

Here's the problem. Problem?? Yeah, problem. I came from a Gateway pentium III at 512 something or other from the 90's (see my "Is my old computer trash now" post. I would think that somewhere in between these two systems is where a vast majority of most computer users are (except on this forum obviously, you pros!). Anyways, when building a website, or checking the load times from my Flash annimation, I cannot get an accurate feeling for the time it takes most users to view my content, etc. When choosing apps, annimations, streams, etc. to incorporate into my web pages, designs-I want to be able to experience something slower than I have NOW, but much faster than what I got rid of.

Is there a way to see things load, stream, buffer, open, run, blah blah blah the way most users do? Can I get a program to pick the speed and configurations that others may be having to suffer through to see what it is like in their shoes? My idea is to "bottleneck" the power/speed etc. to that of the other guys out there.

I believe that it is either THAT mentioned above (to help foster design decisions), OR we are just going to have to find ways to speed up applications so all users load times are the same regardless of their rig. Anyone know what is being done in this realm? Do all streams and feeds have to buffer, thus keep me unpatiently waiting?

Has any of this ever been asked and/or thought of? Please help me...i'm kinda slow! :o :scratch:

Comments

  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited September 2006
    Why?
    Anybody loading a web page will do it at the speed of their connection. I doubt any differance between yours and anybody elses would matter.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited September 2006
    I would recommend uploading your test files to a web server and viewing them from there. That way, the display or download time would be more comparable with what another user would see.
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited September 2006
    Load times are based on connection speed. What you really need to check are load times, not computer speed. Flash has a built-in way to test load times at different speeds. I don't know of any free utilities for web sites, but for pay there are some programs that will simulate different connection speeds.

    The two I know are HTML Toolbox and WebSpeed Simulator
  • WISKINITAWISKINITA san antonio, TEXAS
    edited September 2006
    I thank you guys for the info and ideas. I will check into them.
    BUT there's more to it also, so I want to keep it going.

    Is anyone following me? (Where I am going with this) I trust there are no simple answers. And everyone wants and is looking for that quicker, faster, more more more, go go go when it comes to wait times and the such! Therefore, I want a simulator that can show me slower speeds. Or slower connection speeds as Kwitco has talked about. Surely there is a whole lot more to be said in this area. Anyone else?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2006
    Just install all Norton security software you can find...that'll slow it down for sure. But, then, McAffee would work well for that too!
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited September 2006
    Dreamweaver has it, and I'm pretty sure other web design suites have it, but it is a little meter showing various connection speeds and how long your page would (approximately) take to load on those connection speeds.

    Like the others said, this has really nothing at all to do with how fast your computer is - it's all connection speed.
  • WISKINITAWISKINITA san antonio, TEXAS
    edited September 2006
    Prime you are right, I forgot about that feature in Dreamweaver. THANKS TO ALL!
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