In this study we discuss methods for solving random resistor networks and similar problems. We discuss the node elimination method and we demonstrate its equivalence to the Gaussian elimination scheme, finding a good elimination order, which makes the method highly efficient. The transfer matrix method is shown to be a special case of the node elimination method with an ordering that is far from optimal. We compare the performance of these exact methods with a state of the art conjugate gradient solver. In general, the node elimination method is the faster method.