Improving Session Performance

If you are finding sessions to remote machines run slower than you would expect there are a few reasons this might be the case.

Reducing Bandwidth

If sessions are basically running OK, but you would like them to run faster, you can open the connection tuning dialog from the menu inside the session and change some of the settings.

Reducing the colour depth, switching to black and white, and the reducing the number of updates per second will reduce the bandwidth used and may speed up the session if this is the limiting factor.

Some VPS providers limit the I/O capability of their virtual machines. If you are using a low end VPS such as an Amazon EC2 free tier for example it may cope adequately with one or two sessions or it may limit the speed you can achieve in a session. If you have a VPS and are able to, you can trial a larger version or one with a higher I/O rating to see if it makes any difference. Similarly if you are running the server in a virtual machine which is heavily loaded or shared with a number of other virtual machines, you can trial a server on a physical machine or in a different location to compare.

Changing the Connection Type

Another change which may affect your session speed significantly is the connection type. In the Connection settings (above the chat panel in a running session) you can change the Type of connection. Try switching to a different connection type. Sometimes certain routers, firewalls and Antivirus software will cause problems or slow down particular types of connection. In this case switching to a different method may improve the session substantially. Don't be afraid to try connection types that have a lower rating as their rating is based on an unaffected network. If something is interfering with one type of connection it can be much worse than just choosing a lower-starred option.

Connection Failures or Terminations

If you find this still doesn't help, you can check the number of failures listed for the current connection. If this is increasing regularly this would indicate a problem with the connection dropping, and SimpleHelp having to re-establish it regularly which will have a major impact on session speeds. In this case, check out our Performance and Connection Drops Troubleshooting Guide.