I've exited kapersky and the speed went up to 3.77mb/s for a while, now its gone down to 2.47.
So its increased a bit.
Should i try booting up in safe mode so only the basic drivers and programmes are loaded and then see what speed it moves files at?

What operating system are you using? I know that Vista Pre-SP1 has shitty network speeds, but SP1 improves it a bit.

I'm on sp1. :/

I tried plugging the Ethernet cable directly into the computer and now I get just over 4mb/s, surely plugged directly in it should be uber fast?

You said you have wireless N router, is your notebook (or whatever) 802.11N too? if the end device is running only G, wifi would work in G mode, so 2MB/s is quietly OK. I had max 2,5-3MB/s on g.

If your end device is capable to run 802.11n, then something is very wrong, because with n you should be able download at least 5MB/s - and that's also too slow imo.

The other problem could be your router, or end devices' network adapter. If that says, that your router has 10/100/1000 ports and wifi 802.11n - that doesn't mean it can provide full speed of that conectivity. Cheap router often can't reach full speeds, as they have very poor processors and memories within.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

What operating system are you using? I know that Vista Pre-SP1 has shitty network speeds, but SP1 improves it a bit.

It does - on gigabit networks. Instead of 125MB/s you get 15MB/s. SP1 removes that limit. But on 100mbit network speed is not affected at all.