HIGH-SPEED CABLE/LOW SPEED OPERATION

I had Time Warner Cable(TWC) Road Runner service(high-speed cable) installed recently on my Panasonic CF-47 Laptop. It turns out that it operates two times SLOWER than Dial-Up!!! I have a W98 O/S. The High-speed cable into the computer measures normal(as measured by a super-tech with TWC). After he left I began using the Net and couldn't believe it! Now bear in mind I had the best tech in the area install the high-speed. This guy measured everything. Very thorough. Many pieces of high-tech equipment.

When he was here he mentioned possible spyware on the system. He also suggested I get an external hard drive and transfer all my files into that. But...this is a big but, why would I have slower(much slower) response time AFTER high-speed cable was installed? The tech also changed out my USB cable to Ethernet. It takes about 30 seconds to bring up anything:email, websites, etc. Please Advise on this major problem. Thanks.