Roommates and Family Members
Reach an agreement with other people, such as roommates and family members, who use the same Internet connection as you whereby they will refrain from using large amounts of bandwidth while you are playing games. Watching Internet videos, browsing image heavy websites and running file sharing applications are all examples of activities that use large amounts of bandwidth. Browsing text-heavy sites uses a minimal amount of bandwidth and should not drastically affect your ping in games like "Counter-Strike."
Close Bandwidth Hogs
Close any programs on your computer that may be using bandwidth, or leave them open but stop them from using bandwidth. File sharing programs such as uTorrent should be closed. Alternatively, you can right-click on the uTorrent icon in the task bar and click on "Pause all torrents," which will stop uTorrent from using bandwidth. If you are unsure of whether programs on your computer are using bandwidth, access the Task Manager by holding down the "Alt," "Ctrl" and "Del" keys and clicking on the "Task Manager" and "Networking" tabs to get an idea of how much bandwidth you are using.
Upgrade Your Connection
Another thing that can be done to lower your ping in "Counter-Strike" is to upgrade your Internet connection to something with more bandwidth. Most Internet service providers have a few different tiers of service to choose from and will be happy to upgrade your connection. Most modern Internet connections provide enough bandwidth to meet the minimum requirements for games like "Counter-Strike," but you will probably see some small improvements with a connection upgrade.
Server Location
The location of the server you are connecting to is also something to consider when trying to lower ping. Ping is, after all, a measurement of how long it takes data to traverse a physical distance by network cables, and if the total distance between you and the server is small, the data does not have as far to go, and all other things being equal, it will make the trip in less time. Many "Counter-Strike" servers list information about their geographical location in the server name.