# What do bytes mean?



## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

I cannot order from a site online, time seems to stand still when I click on "buy". so--what if anything do bytes mean? It says "bytes recieved 1,204,409
Bytes sent 240,365.
Does this just show nothings moving? if that?


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## trinityoaks (Sep 17, 2008)

Where are you seeing this "bytes received" and "bytes sent"? A byte is a quantity of data. Depending on the formatting, a byte is roughly equivalent to one or two letters, but much of the data doesn't come in "letters". For instance, the "Homesteading Today" logo at the top of this page is a graphic image that is 5702 bytes. Images on Web sites can be HUGE and take a long time to transmit from the Web server to your computer if you have a slow connection.

Do you have a virus checker on your computer? If so, which one?

Is your Internet service dial-up or broadband (DSL, cable, etc.)?


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

I have Avast, and yes, on dial-up. By right clicking on my tiny tv screens (connections) I bring up status. I was just wondering if thats why its so slow--just on one site--that I wanted to order from...


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

trinityoaks said:


> A byte is a quantity of data.


That's what "byte" has come to mean, but the original word was a contraction of "by eight". Today many people talk about "8-bit bytes", when all "bytes" (by eights) should really be 8-bits. They aren't, but since "byte" is a contraction of "by-eight", a byte of any other size really should be called something else, in my opinion of course.

Perhaps the better original question might have been what a bit is.

Here is a bit/byte definition I found in a wiki.

******
A byte is an ordered collection of bits, with each bit denoting a single binary value of 1 or 0. The byte most often consists of 8 bits in modern systems; however, the size of a byte can vary and is generally determined by the underlying computer operating system or hardware. Historically, byte size was determined by the number of bits required to represent a single character from a Western character set.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte


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## BeaG (Aug 21, 2008)

Which browser are you using? Since you are on dialup, you might want to turn off the pictures, etc. temporarily while you look at the one site in question. It "might" speed it up. 

Here are the instructions, (taken verbatim from the Internet Explorer "help" pages) for turning off the pictures, etc. when viewing the internet. You could reverse the process after your order was placed.

To turn off multimedia in Internet Explorer

By default, Internet Explorer displays multimedia (such as pictures, videos, or sounds) used on webpages. You can turn off multimedia if you want to increase the speed at which the page loads or if you use a screen reader. 

Here's how:

In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options. 

Click the Advanced tab. 

In the Settings section, under Multimedia, clear any of the following check boxes to turn off that type of multimedia: 

Play animations in webpages 
Play sounds in webpages 
Show pictures 

Notes

If the Show pictures check box is cleared, you can still display an individual picture by right-clicking its icon, and then clicking Show Picture. 
If the pictures on the current page are still visible after you clear the Show pictures check box, click the Refresh(F5) button . 

Perhaps this will help. I hope so.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

better yet what site are you trying to order from ?


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