No matter how quickly something moves, especially on Internet, it could always move faster.

Email, web surfing, downloading files (legally of course), none of them ever go as quickly as we want or expect.

Well, let me do my part to perpetuate this microwave oven mentality (why must popcorn take 3 ½ minutes instead of 2?) by giving you some tips and hints for making your online experiences and overall computing as fast as possible (even on a dial up connection).

** Hit The Accelerator **

Sensing a need for faster Internet access in markets where broadband cable or DSL can't or won't go, Internet Service Providers (ISP's) like NetZero offer Internet "accelerators."

Using a system of caches, compression schemes, and other technology to double or even triple your dial-up connection speeds, Internet accelerators can save you hours spent waiting for simple web pages to appear in your browser. ** Though they won't work for everyone in every single situation, check out www.netzero.com, www.propel.com and www.slipstreamdata.com for more information.

** Clean Up Your Hard Drive ** Often a messy hard drive can contribute to slow online experiences. Perform a "Disk Cleanup" and a "Defrag" (available by clicking , , then ) to clean out garbage files on your hard drive that slow your system down considerably.

This will help when running offline applications too.

** Get More RAM **

RAM (Random Access Memory) allows your computer to process data more quickly without writing and reading from hard drive.

Ask any nerd and they'll tell you straight out, "You can NEVER have too much RAM!" RAM costs so little now that virtually anyone can afford to add more memory without a big hit to their wallet.

** Avoid Time Wasters **

Speeding up your surfing doesn't just mean pulling maximum amount of data through your phone line until it melts!

It also means avoiding things that suck your time up and leave you sitting twiddling your thumbs instead of getting things done.

Make most of your time online with these time-saving tips:

Use Google - Search giant, Google.com, consistently returns relevant search results in minimum time.

What they really want to know is, "How can I get people to show up to my website without spending any money on advertising my site!"

People usually don't like my answer because accomplishing a "top ten ranking" on any search engine always requires careful thought along with a significant amount of work.

Three types of "Search engines" abound on Internet. They include true search engines, directories, and links pages.

At last count approximately 10,000 sites referred to themselves as search engines, though only about a dozen sites rate your attention since they drive 97% of Internet's search traffic.

These sites include Google, Yahoo!, Overture, MSN, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Lycos, DMOZ, and a few others.

When a visitor logs onto a search engine looking for information, they enter "keywords" about subject in hopes of obtaining a list of relevant websites.

Each search engine or directory operates with its own rules about judging a site's relevancy to a keyword search.

They look at text on web page (body text) as well as words you can't see which reside in actual code of web pages.

This code includes such things as alt tags, title tags, and others.