How to Stop Interruptions in a Streaming Movie

By Kay Ireland

Free up space in your cache for the movie to stream faster.
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Streaming a movie online often lets you stay home instead of rushing out to the video store. Websites such as YouTube, Netflix and Hulu allow you to watch everything from home and viral videos to feature movie and TV shows using your computer and an Internet connection. If your streaming experience is slow or choppy, check your settings and connections to ensure they're set for optimum movie watching online.

Clear your cache to allow for more space to temporarily receive the files necessary to stream video. Your cache is where temporary Internet files are held. If the cache is full, your playback may be choppy or low quality. Clean out your cache by clicking the "Start" button, then "Control Panel" and "Internet Options." Then, while on the General tab, find the "Temporary Internet Files" heading and click "Delete Files," then "Delete all offline content."

Check your Internet connection to ensure that it's functioning properly. The speed at which an online movie buffers and plays depends on the speed of your Internet. If your Internet is working slowly or you're already taking up bandwidth by downloading other pictures, programs and videos, you Internet will be slower, which can result in interrupted video and choppy playback.

Adjust the buffering time if you're streaming directly to Windows Media Player. The buffering time is the amount of video that loads before the movie begins playing. The higher you set your buffering time, the more movie will load before playback. It will take longer to load, but you'll be able to watch without buffering interruptions. Just click "View" in Windows Media Player, then "Options" and "Advanced." Select "Streaming Media" and adjust the slider bar to allow for more buffering time.

Press "Pause" when your movie begins playing in your Web browser and walk away from your computer for a short time. This allows more of the movie to buffer before you begin to watch the movie, so there's less of a chance that your movie is going to be interrupted by load times.

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