Today we all want faster a computer, faster browsers, and faster downloads. This is the age of instant information after all. While there is no fix that will make your computer respond instantly, at least not yet, there are a few things you can do to make Internet Explorer run a bit faster and download pages quicker than before.

The best way to Speed up Data Downloads? Turn it Off

Turn off Phishing Filter

If you are comfortable surfing the internet, you can turn off the phishing filter in Explorer. This filter is set up to catch certain kinds of spam and to protect you from visiting sites known to be dangerous. It's a good thing, but the filter can slow down response time in IE. To turn it off…

• Open Internet Explorer

• Open Tools Menu

• Open Phishing Filter

• Turn off Automatic Web Site Checking

• Confirm this choice in the pop up window

Turn off the RSS Feed Checker.

RSS Feeds are data streams that supply updated information. You subscribe to an RSS feed whenever you get a podcast, blog update alert or an fed Tweet. The Feed Checker does what its name implies, searching for (and to a degree, filtering) feeds. Yet again, you can turn it off for a small boost in download performance. You may loose some layer of protection but gain a little speed.

• Open Internet Explorer

• Open Tools Menu

• Open Internet Options

• Select Content Tab

• In Feeds section, select Settings button

• Another window opens, called Feed Seetings

• Uncheck the box to automatically check for feeds

• Select OK to apply in both windows.

• Restart Internet Explorer

Disable Clear Type for HTML

Clear Type is a font-modification module. It makes fonts transmit and resolve better for clearer text. It's a bonus though. If you don't need it, you can lose it.

• Open Internet Explorer

• Open Tools Menu

• Open Internet Options

• Select Advanced Tab

• Scroll down to the Multimedia section

• Uncheck the box for Clear Type for HTML

• Click on Apply and then OK

• Restart Internet Explorer

Disable the SSVHelper

This is a non-essential element of the JAVA runtime plug-in. In most cases, it can be disabled without interfering with the performance of IE or the JAVA runtime environment.

• Open Internet Explorer

• Open Tools Menu

• Open Manage Add Ons

• Open Enable or Disable Add Ons

• Highlight SSVHelper Class by click on it once

• In Settings Box select Disable indicator

• Click on OK to apply

• Restart Internet Explorer

While these tips may not give a significant amount of speed back to Internet Explorer, they do give noticeable speed in downloading information and sites to the browser. In the world of instant information, every little bit helps.

Obviously, you can use these instructions to re-enable any of the above sequences.