Slowed internet

Recently my internet has been considerably slower and I'm not sure what's caused it.

I did a bandwidth test and the results are:
Download Speed: 1694 kbps (211.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 290 kbps (36.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

...as the average of 3 tests.

My speeds used to be double that!  I have a suspicion on what could be causing the slow down, but I'm not good with these things.

I just installed NOD32 to try it out, but I also have AntiVir Personal installed.  Is having more than one virus scanner lagging my connection somehow?

I also noticed NOD32 starting up some program I couldn't disable through NOD23's settings, so I used Sysinternals "autoruns" to kill the service from starting on boot.  Not sure if this has any relevance to my speeds, either.  I've tried leaving that NOD32 service and program running and don't notice much of a difference.

If any other specifics are needed I'll be more than happy to supply what programs I use frequently.  Also, I called the cable company and my account was not downgraded or anything like that.  I don't use a router.

Oh, forgot to mention too I did full system scans with NOD32 then AntiVir.  I did spyware, malware and trojan scans.  Nothing came up.  Afterward I uninstalled both antivirus programs, rebooted, etc.  No different in speed.

I also killed my firewall and did another speed test.. which turned out to be the worst one yet.

I'm at my wit's end and my ISP's tech support can't offer any advice or help.  Is there any way for me to adjust settings in Windows that may have been reconfigured?  Is there anything I can do?  Thanks for any help.

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try tossing some pings at a popular domain like yahoo and see what the return rate is. you could also ask your ISPs tech support guy to do a ping of your connection, your streets connection, and then your neighborhoods connection. by doing so he could get an accurate read as to whether its a major problem, or one afflicting only you. if its only you with the problem and he notices a bit of packet loss, it could be either a dying modem, which happens quite a bit if your gear is above 2.5 years. if thats the case, just get a motorola modem from best buy or something. if it doesnt fix the problem, you could always take it back.

of course these things will really only matter if its a hardware/physical line problem. good luck to you.