[Bemopti123]

I have been a happy camper with my  Mac Mini G4 MKI and my Powerbook G4 1.5 Mhz.  They both have the memory maxed out.  What I have noticed as of late is the more common occurrence of the spinning ball of death as I surf the internet through Firefox or Safari.  I mean, pages seem to take a while longer, while the spinning ball of death appears and the blue window bars fail to load in time or load properly at all.  Sometimes, this is especially noticeable while using Gmail, I perceive this lag as I type.  Perhaps it is not only Gmail, it might be also when I choose the address bar to type an address.  My PB runs its fall like mad when this occur. 

So, I have been wandering whether these computers have reached their potential end of life, as pages become more cluttered with flash images and the like or perhaps it is my router or internet service slowing down.  I wonder.  Is it time to invest in a faster computer or do I change some setting in order for things to return to what they were a couple of months ago? 

Feedback is appreciated.

Paul

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Do you mean the spinning Color Wheel?

   My 1Ghz PB G4 still doing fine surfing the net with about 80% full HDD.

   It might not be your Mini and PB G4 that is the problem. Both machine?  It could also be your internet provider, modem, router and etc.

  You do have this problem with every sites? Even with Audio Circle? AC site shouldn't post a problem since it is not loaded with graphics.

  I have a DSL service from Verizon. Once in a while it will slow down for some reason but this is rarely.

  BTW... how much RAM do you have in those machine?

Take care,
Buddy

[Bemopti123]

They both have about 1 gb or a little more.  I do get this impression that it could be a combo of things, such as the provider and also the websites.  When I was surfing at work, they have a T1, it was pretty quick.  But then, who knows exactly?  The fact is that both of the devices have the same type of network card, G and the router is also a G router.  It is possible that the bandwidth might have decreased, but one thing is for sure, it is becoming mighty annoying. 

The PB HD is reaching its limits, but the Mini's is external and it is a very fast Firewire.  Thus, when this sort of thing happens, I wonder what might be the culprit.  Perhaps I should use the newer Safari more often to see whether it does the same.  I have read somewhere that the newest Firefox for OS X is terrible.  Perhaps that is the cause.   

[mcullinan]

I think your Network connection is hanging for some reason. Shut off your router, unplug it from the wall, same with the cable connection, wait 10 seconds restart both and restart your computer see what happens.
Mike

[nathanm]

I had a CPU-hogging problem with Firefox awhile back.  Definitely a bug with the software.  I only need to use it for some things, though.  Perhaps one of the frequent system updates fixed it, but since then I haven't noticed it acting up.  I still use Mozilla.  It ain't broke, so I haven't fixed it. 

Yep, the 'ol modem\router power cycle never hurts.  Ultimately, if you can bite the bullet and do an archive and install definitely do it.  You have more willpower than I.

[Bemopti123]

Will try all these recommendations and I have my fingers crossed that things will somehow go back to normal

Thanks!