With the proliferation of smart home devices, online gaming platforms, and video-streaming services, maintaining a strong internet connection is more important than ever. If you're experiencing lag while playing League of Legends, or it takes forever to download music, there's a good chance the problem is on your end and not an issue with your internet service provider (ISP).

Before you schedule a service call with your cable company, check out our tips for troubleshooting your internet connection.

Scan for Viruses:

Sometimes your internet connection can be affected by malicious code on your computer. Do a scan for spyware, viruses, and malware, all of which can have a significant impact on your web-surfing speed and overall system performance. Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender built-in, which can do the job nicely—but there are plenty of free and subscription-based utilities available as well.

Bypass Your DNS Server:

When you type a website into your browser, your computer looks up the IP address of that website using a DNS server. Occasionally, these servers can have problems, making it difficult to visit websites using their friendly domain names (like PCMag.com). It's like having a working phone with no contact list—you technically have the ability to call people, but you don't know anyone's number.

Try bypassing your DNS server by typing an IP address into your browser, like 216.58.197.78 (which is one of Google's IP addresses). If the page loads properly, you'll need to change your DNS server, or maybe flush your DNS cache to fix your problems.

Who Else Is Using the Internet?

It's possible that everything is working properly, but a program on your PC—or someone else in the house—is using up all your bandwidth. On Windows, open up the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc and click on the Network column to sort by network usage. On a Mac, press Command+Space to open Spotlight, type "Activity Monitor," and head to Activity Monitor's Network tab.

If a certain app is using a lot of bandwidth—like if you're downloading a big file—you may just need to wait until that process is finished, or cancel it to get your internet snappy again. If you don't see any obvious culprits, see if someone else in the house is downloading a large file on their machine, and tell them to knock it off. You might even have a neighbor stealing your Wi-Fi.

Update Your Firmware

Firmware is the low-level embedded software that runs your modem, router, and other network hardware. Most vendors provide downloadable firmware updates that can resolve performance issues, add new features, and increase speed. Look for the firmware update tool in the System section of your router's management console and follow the instructions carefully to ensure that you're installing the correct firmware version. Do not download firmware from a third-party site.

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