How do you lower your ping

There can be a number of reasons for PING times to be above whats wanted.
Cheap network cards utilize CPU power and if one is running advanced 3D games, then networking might become somewhat unstable.

Running advanced firewalls and anti virus programs on computer will increase network communication time. Especially when there is a lot of traffic going on like in downloading and running MMPRPG (Massive Multi Player Role Player Game) like World Of Warcraft.

A few approaches could be tested out in order to increase speed of networking.

Using a hardware router with built in firewall instead of computer software for this will in most cases totally take away the need of both firewall and anti virus program running on your computer whilst playing games. This will really speed up your computer. It will be like running a motorbike instead of a common scooter :-)

If your computer is very slow, then it could simply be infected with virus or malware. Some virus and malware utilizes Internet an awful lot, and this could possibly be the reason for slow pings.
Run through your computer with proper high quality anti virus software.
The best approach is to disconnect and take your hard disk out. then have it scanned from another computer you know is 100% virus and malware free.

Your connection to Internet could be a slow one. Your internetprovider may be able to advice you further on upgrading your connection speed. It could also be caused by a temporary problem the provider are having. Your provider might be able to tell you more.