Slow Internet Connection

Hello,

My name's Ana and I got a macbook pro recently for my 18th birthday so Im pretty new with the OS and stuff.
My internet speed was zooming when I got it brand new and could load 10 minute youtube videos for 3-4 minutes tops with a DSL connection.
Then I went ahead and browsed proxies and tweaked my Safari settings, and somehow- I dont know at what point after that, when I also installed other programs like DIVx and Yahoo and MSN, as well as MMORPG Planeshift that I noticed my internet connection had slowed down. I instantly thought of the proxy meddling I made with HTTP proxy and Socks proxy using a tutorial on youtube. I've reset all my Proxy settings since then- like I got the original IP off my wireless router- but I cant remember the IP addess on default with my Safari right before I changed it. My question is, is it possible that my mac came in with a default IP address that made it superfast, and if not, do software factors affect the internet connection of my pc? Please help.

the specs of my mac are as follows:
MAC OSX V10.6.3
2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

TY xox

Your MBP does not come with a default IP address or any IP address for that matter. It's your wireless router that assigns an IP address to your MBP.

Fooling with proxy settings is never a good idea and in fact is not needed for the vast majority of users. If you've set everything back to the way it was, your connection speed should be back to normal. The software you installed should not slow the connection speed down. It might seem that way for example- when viewing videos from You Tube or other hosts.

You can measure your connection speed against what your ISP says it should be or rather, what you're paying for. If for instance, your connection is supposed to be 15 MBS down and 5 MBS up, then, your measurement should be fairly close.

Go here to measure.

or here.

Regards.