Web sites test speeds of Internet connections

Q:Where can I go online to check the speed of my cable Internet connection?
A:You will find a multitude of pages online that say they will test your Internet connection speed. But which test should you choose? One great option is located at the Web site of the Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy lab run by the University of Chicago (http://miranda. ctd.anl.gov:7123/).

The ANL test provides a wealth of information about your Internet connection. The results may be more technical than you would want, although I found its details fascinating. You will need a Java plug-in to use the test, but do not let that discourage you. If your browser says you are missing the plug-in (as my Mozilla Firefox browser told me), get the plug-in because the download is quick, especially with your cable connection.

Here's how the test works, according to the Argonne National Laboratory page: "First, data is streamed for 10 seconds from your desktop to the server, and then a second 10-second test is performed in the opposite direction."

The test results will include speeds for both inbound and outbound data.

If you click on "Statistics" after you run the test, you will find out whether the analysis found any network congestion or faulty network cables and whether you can do anything to improve your connection performance.

Another good speed test is available from broadband service provider Speakeasy (http://wdc.speakeasy.net/). This test also reports both inbound and outbound speeds and lets you compare your speeds to common benchmarks (such as video streams and multiplayer games) and to speeds clocked by other users from the same domain.

If you don't want any details with your test, go to McAfee's Internet Speedometer (http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer/default.asp). Note that it does not list upload speed, as the other tests do.

Your results will vary among the tests, and they will vary even using a single test site. Many factors can account for this variability. With each different test tool you try, you will be connecting to a different network.

Even when you use a single tool repeatedly, data does not necessarily take the same route through the Internet to get to the same Web site. Other factors that affect performance are Internet traffic, which changes throughout the day, and, for Internet cable users including you, how many users are currently online in your neighborhood.

Q:Is there any way to go into your Windows laptop and find out whether the DVD/CD drive will burn either a CD-R and/or a CD-RW disc, or whether it just reads discs? I clicked on my drive, and it says it is a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2412.

A:There's a quick way to determine whether your drive has writing capability, says Clay Harris, vice president of IT at consulting firm Work Smart in Durham. Look for a logo imprinted on the front of the drive that says Compact Disc ReWritable or Compact Disc Recordable ReWritable. The logo can sometimes be subtle and hard to read, however.

"I've never seen a CD-RW drive without this logo on the front," he says.

Using the make and model number that you provided, I located a page on the Toshiba Web site that describes your drive's capabilities. The page states that your drive reads DVDs and CDs and that it writes to both CD-R and CD-RW discs.

It is worth knowing how to find the manufacturer and model number of hardware, as you did. In Windows XP, right-click on the drive, click Properties and check the information listed under Hardware. Or you can find this information via the Device Manager, which you can access by right-clicking on My Computer, choosing Manage and then selecting Device Manager. You can then use the model number to research your equipment online.

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