Quick question

Hello, I apologize if i'm in the wrong forum room for this question, but I have somewhat of a technical question that I can't figure out.  I joined this site a few days ago, and every time I try to play live, before hand it gives me a minutes option to choose from.  I usually choose 30 min as the entire thing makes absolutely no sense to me.  Anyway, a lot of times half way through the 30 minute process, a message pops up and says I lost, and usually a minute or two later I would have won. Frustrating.  Because of this, my rating is stuck at 1150, even though I play at level closer to 1400.   I tend to beat the 1200 and 1300 ratings, but then lose to a computer message to someone not very good, with the message saying something about my opponent completing in time, or something like that.

Anyone know what any of that means? 

Best,

Albert

choose 15 10 as your time if you're having this problem and make sure you don't think for too long. Else you'll lose because your clock ran out of time.