I have over six hundred books on my reading list, most of which I own. Some of them I've never read before, others I want to reread. They weigh on my mind and clutter up my room. Some I want to read so I can review them for my blog, Lover's Quarrel, and others just look like fun. Everywhere I turn in my house, there are stacks of books to be read. I have four reading apps on my phone as well.

But too often I turn to Netflix when I have some free time. I love Netflix. With all of its shows and movies perfect for binge-watching, I find myself looking forward to marathoning That 70's Show (again) instead of wanting to read Voyager by Diana Gabaldon for a couple of hours. Don't get me wrong, I love reading. And there have been plenty of times in my life when I preferred reading to watching TV. But after starting college and then taking on landscaping as a summer job, I must confess that my reading habits have seriously diminished. I even had to take a brief hiatus from Lover's Quarrel because I didn't have any more books to review and couldn't find the will to read any more.

Ironically, Netflix became my free time activity of choice for the same reason I prefer books to TV: it takes less imagination and energy. All of the sights and sounds are provided for me so I don't have to spend precious mental energy and imagination, which gets seriously depleted during the school year.

But Netflix quickly becomes a vicious cycle. It's too tempting to watch it when I have the energy to read, or even when I should be working. Luckily, there are ways to get me away from Netflix and back to reading, apart from unsubscribing to Netflix (let's not get too crazy).

Listening to music or white noise has helped a lot. It gives me the same stimulation as the audio on a TV show, so it keeps my reading distraction-free. I have a white noise app that I like, and I've found some really good "Music for Reading" videos on YouTube. Audiobooks also bring me away from Netflix because I can knit or clean while listening to them.

However, the most effective thing I've found to get me away from Netflix is ​​to keep binge-watching. No, seriously. Once I've found an amazing show and I get a huge obsession over it, I can't stop watching it until I run out of episodes. And after I've run out of episodes, other TV shows are ruined for me for awhile. That happened with Stranger Things and I'm sure it'll happen once I hit season 8 of That 70's Show. Since all TV is ruined for me anyway, the best thing I can do is find a book that I know will be as addictive as a good television series. And that will take me away from Netflix. In the meantime, I'll have to make myself read while I ride out my television craze.

Netflix is a popular on-demand multimedia streaming website. It offers comprehensive selection of television shows and films.

Some users are complaining that sometimes Netflix becomes choppy and it has trouble streaming the content. The buffering fits drop from HD to just 1 bar. Constant interrupting messages, such as “Loading… ” or “Retrieving… ” appear. There are so many other issues with its speed and performance that need to be addressed.

We have provided here a few tips to speed up Netflix streaming. We’ll help you find and kill the root causes that make constant buffering/streaming problems in Netflix.

Solutions:

1. Upgrade your Internet Plan

2. Control Bandwidth Usage

3. Free-Up Temporary Directories

4. Optimize your Internet Settings

5. Update Microsoft Silverlight

Upgrade your Internet Plan

The speed at which Netflix streams and buffers movie greatly depends on your internet connection speed. It is important to upgrade internet plan to speed up Netflix streaming.

Control Bandwidth Usage

Bandwidth Usage refers to the amount of data sent and received per unit of time. Increased bandwidth usage impedes the active buffering process. It gradually slows down and you experience Netflix slow speed.

Close any internet based applications opened. For example: cloud applications, online backup applications and software updater. This shall speed up Netflix streaming.

Free-Up the Temporary Directories

The temporary directories on your hard disk include all those folders which store buffering and streaming data, and the stuff downloaded from the internet.

The process of buffering is basically done with co-ordination of Netflix servers and your computer. The data is temporarily stored in specific locations on your hard disk. These locations are often called temporary directories.

1. Click Wrench icon in Google Chrome.

2. Select Tools, and then Clear Browsing Data.

3. Check-up all the boxes and click Clear Browsing Data button to delete temporary files.

Optimize your Internet Settings

As default your internet has dozens of features enabled which not only increases the bandwidth usage but also slows down Netflix streaming. To speed up Netflix streaming start optimizing your internet settings now:

1. Download, install and run a good Internet Optimization utility.

2. Select your current internet speed, for example, slow, average or fast.

3. Click Analyze.

4. In the confirmation box click Optimize Internet button.

Update Microsoft Silverlight

Sometime the delays experienced by users are because of Microsoft Silverlight plug-in itself.

For improving the quality and your multimedia viewing experience update Microsoft Silverlight plug-in. It shall speed up Netflix streaming. Download Microsoft Silverlight from here. Then click “Click to Install” button.