I have a cable connection for my Internet access, and I understand that the performance can be affected by the number of other users connected to the same branch. Is there some software for Windows 98 that I could run that would tell me how many people are sharing this bandwidth with me?

Alfred Poor's Answer:
I don't know of any way to check the number of users on your network—there may be some sophisticated "sniffer" device that you could use—but the real issue here is bandwidth. If 1,000 users are sharing your connection doing nothing but surfing, you'll have faster performance than if only 10 users are downloading and uploading huge files constantly. I'd advise you to explore some of the Web sites out there that can measure your connection speed. Try DSL Reports or go to Broadband Wizard and download the trial version of its utility. If you monitor the changes in speed at different times of day, you'll get the best indication of how much other users are slowing you down.