There are several factors which affect how fast pages appear on your computer screen. Some of these factors are under your control and some are not.

The factors under your control are: the speed of your modem and the speed of your computer.

The faster your modem, the faster pages will display. The recommended minimum modem speed is 28.8 kbps (kilobits per second). A modem speed of 56 kbps is now quite common and is highly recommended if you are thinking of purchasing a faster modem.

As for the speed of your computer, generally speaking, the faster your computer's processor, the more memory it has, and the more disk space it has, the faster pages will appear. Refer to the documentation that came with your Sympatico software for the recommended minimum hardware configuration.

The main factor not under your control is the amount of traffic on the Internet. When you are linking to a page on a Web site, the number of other people accessing that Web site at the same time will affect how fast you will get your Web page. It depends on the popularity of the site you're trying to access and the time of day. It also depends on how much traffic is on the Internet between you and the Web site you are accessing. And remember that people are connecting to the Internet from all of the world's time zones. You will find some times and days are better than others for acces sing pages quickly. For the curious, the Internet Traffic Report site monitors the flow of Internet data around the world, and translates it daily into measurements and charts.

If you feel you are waiting too long for images to appear on your screen, you can display text only (no pictures or images).

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