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MAKING YOUR VISTA BROADBAND FASTER

Posted by KaMaRaZaMaN on October 24, 2009

Reminder: Use at your own risks! If you are not sure what you are doing, please find someone who has an experience in modifying Vista settings…

Making your Vista broadband faster…

STEP 1: Streamyx connection

change DNS for TCP/IP for streamyx

start -> connect to -> (your broadband)-> right  click for properties -> networking -> TCPIP/IP4

Use the following DNS servers

primary 203.121.16.85
secondary 203.121.16.120

STEP 2: Registry settings

1. download / save SG_Vista_TcpIp_patch file. Do NOT open with MS Word.

2. rename to SG_Vista_TcpIp_patch.cmd

3. Run the program twice, choose  -y and  -q options

STEP 3: MZ Vista Force

1. download Mz Vista Force from www.mztweak.com

2. choose Internet Optimizer and click ADSL and DSL Modem.

3. Enable AutoTuning

4. Click Apply Tweaks to restart PC.

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After restarting

Change Network Connections for home users

Control panel, Network Connections

1. Choose the connection for streamyx.

Networking ->uncheck

TCP/IP V6

File & Printer Sharing

Microsoft Networks

2. Local Area Connection -> uncheck

TCP/IP V6

File & Printer Sharing

Microsoft Networks

Link Topology Discovery mapper I/O Driver

Link Topology Discovery responder

3. Wireless Network Connection -> uncheck

TCP/IP V6

Microsoft Networks

Link Topology Discovery mapper I/O Driver

Link Topology Discovery responder

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I used these settings for my notebook.

Mz Vista Performance


Mz Vista Windows


Mz Vista Windows Media Player



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FOR ADVANCED USERS:  ABOUT THE ABOVE SETTINGS.

Refer to: http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2574

From speedguide;

Compound TCP – Improve throughput

The traditional slow-start and congestion avoidance algorithms in TCP help avoid network congestion by gradually increasing the TCP window at the beginning of transfers until the TCP Receive Window boundary is reached, or packet loss occurs. For broadband internet connections that combine high TCP Window with higher latency (high BDP), these algorithms do not increase the TCP windows fast enough to fully utilize the bandwidth of the connection.

Compound TCP (CTCP) is a newer method, available in Vista and Server 2008 (there is also a hotfix available for XP/2003). CTCP increases the TCP send window more aggressively for broadband connections (with large RWIN and BDP). CTCP attempts to maximize throughput by monitoring delay variations and packet loss. It also ensures that its behavior does not impact other TCP connections negatively.

By default, Vista has CTCP turned off, and Server 2008 turned on. Turning this option on can significantly increase throughput.

To enable CTCP, in elevated command prompt type:

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp

To disable CTCP:

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=none

Possible options are:  ctcp, none, default (restores the system default value).
Recommended setting: ctcp

It is better to use this newer generation CTCP congestion control algorithm for most broadband connections, we highly recommend it being turned on.

ECN Capability

ECN (Explicit Congestion Notification) is a mechanism that provides routers with an alternate method of communicating network congestion. It is aimed to decrease retransmissions. In essence, ECN assumes that the cause of any packet loss is router congestion. It allows routers experiencing congestion to mark packets and allow clients to automatically lower their transfer rate to prevent further packet loss. ECN is disabled by default in Vista, as it is possible that it may cause problems with some older routers that do not support this feature.

To check whether your router supports ECN, you can use the Microsoft Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool. The results will be displayed under “Traffic Congestion Test”.

To enable ECN, in elevated command prompt type:

netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=enabled

Possible settings are: enabled, disabled, default (restores the state to the system default).
The default state is: disabled
Our recommendation: disabled

More information on ECN: Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) for TCP/IP

RSS – Receive-side Scaling

The receive-side scaling setting enables parallelized processing of received packets on multiple processors, while avoiding packet reordering. It avoids packet reordering y separating packets into “flows”, and using a single processor for processing all the packets for a given flow. Packets are separated into flows by computing a hash value based on specific fields in each packet, and the resulting hash values are used to select a processor for processing the flow. This approach ensures that all packets belonging to a given TCP connection will be queued to the same processor, in the same order that they were received by the network adapter.

To set RSS:

netsh int tcp set global rss=enabled

Possible rss settings are: disabled, enabled, default (restores rss state to the system default).
Default state is: enabled
Recommended: enabled (if you have 2 or more processor cores and a NIC that can handle RSS)

TCP Chimney Offload

TCP chimney offload enables Windows to offload all TCP processing for a connection to a network adapter. Offloads are initiated on a per-connection basis. Compared to task offload, TCP chimney offload further reduces networking-related CPU overhead, enabling better overall system performance by freeing up CPU time for other tasks.

To set TCP Chimney Offload:

netsh int tcp set global chimney=enabled

The possible states are: disabled, enabled, default (restores chimney offload state to the system default)
Default state: enabled
Recommended: enabled

Setting MTU

It is sometimes useful to view and set the MTU value for a specific network interface manually. To view a list of active network interfaces and their MTU values in Vista using netsh, open command prompt as administrator and execute the following command:

netsh interface ipv4 show subinterface

You will be presented with a list of interfaces, and their respective MTU values as follows:


To change the MTU value of a specific network card, type the following in command prompt:

netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface “network interface name” mtu=#### store=persistent

Where “network interface name” is your specific network adapter name as obtained above (or viewable under Network adapters), and mtu=#### is the desired MTU value.

For example, if the name of your network card is “Wireless Network Connection” and you’d like to set its MTU to 1500, you’d have to type:

netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface “Wireless Network Connection” mtu=1500 store=persistent

Note: The maximum MTU value is usually 1500, and up to 1492 for PPPoE connections.

Manually tuning Registry Parameters

Many of the registry keys tuning TCP/IP parameters from previous Windows versions no longer work in Vista and Server 2008. Below is a list of the few we’ve confirmed to still work. Note that for changes to these settings to take effect the computer needs to be rebooted. As always, a registry backup is recommended if making any changes, and some proficiency in using regedit is required.

In regedit (Start icon > Run > type: regedit while logged in as administrator), you can navigate and edit the following keys.

MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) – the maximum packet size.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{…}\
MTU=1500 (DWORD, entry does not exist by default)

The {….} part of the above path is the unique identifier of your network adapter. You can recognize the correct adapter by looking at it’s IP address, if obtaining IP automatically labeled by: DhcpIPAddress=192.168.x.x text value, for example.

We recommend leaving this at default, unless you want to lower it. Vista uses the largest possible packet size for the underlying network by default.

Note: In some test environments, the correct MTU entry may be offset by 8. The 8 offset seems to coincide with the size of the PPPoE overhead. Check the result with the TCP Analyzer.

TCP 1323 Options

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
Tcp1323Opts=1 (DWORD, entry created automatically by Windows when you run the “netsh int tcp set global autotuninglvl=…” command, set to 0 by default).

Setting this seems to have no effect, since auto-tuning uses the TCP 1323 scale factor and changes it on the fly, disregarding this setting. Additional testing may be required to determine it’s effect if auto-tuning is turned off. Setting it to 1 is best for broadband connections.

NetDMA

NetDMA enables support for advanced direct memory access. In essence, it provides the ability to more efficiently move network data by minimizing CPU usage. NetDMA frees the CPU from handling memory data transfers between network card data buffers and application buffers by using a DMA engine.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
EnableTCPA=1
(DWORD, 1 to enable, 0 to disable NetDMA. Value not present by default in Vista)

Recommended setting is 1, a new DWORD value may need to be created if not already present in the registry.

DefaultTTL

TTL can be safely left alone in many cases. It is a limit to the time and number of hops/routers a packet will travel before being discarded. A number that’s too small risks packets being discarded before reaching their destination. A number that’s too large (over 128) will cause delay in when lost IP packets are discarded.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
DefaultTTL=64
(DWORD, set to a decimal value between 32 and 128. Recommended: 64)

TcpMaxDataRetransmissions

Determines how many times unacknowledged data (non-connect segment) is retransmitted before TCP aborts the connection. The retransmission timeout is doubled with each successive retransmission on a connection. It is reset when responses resume.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
TCPMaxDataRetransmissions=7
(DWORD, recommended: between 3 and 10, default registry value 255, default 5 in documentation)

SynAttackProtect

This undocumented setting provides protection against SYN denial of service (DoS) attacks. When enabled, connections timeout sooner if SYN attack is detected. When set at 1, TCPMaxDataRetransmissions can be lowered further.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
SynAttackProtect=1
(DWORD, recommended: 1, not present in registry by default)

Set DNS and Hosts Priority

As with previous versions of Windows, one can improve DNS and hostname resolution by increasing the priority of of related services, while keeping their order. This is explained in more defail in our Host Resolution article. Lower numbers mean higher process priority. The corresponding registry settings in Vista are as follows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider
LocalPriority=4
(DWORD, recommended: 4, default: 499) – local names cache
HostsPriority=5 (DWORD, recommended: 5, default: 500) – the HOSTS file
DnsPriority=6 (DWORD, recommended: 6, default: 2000) – DNS
NetbtPriority=7 (DWORD, recommended: 7, default: 2001) - NetBT name resolution, including WINS

TcpTimedWaitDelay (port allocation)

Short lived (ephemeral) TCP/IP ports above 1024 are allocated as needed by the OS. The default Vista values have improved from previous Windows versions, and are usually sufficient under normal load. However, in some instances under heavy load it it may be necessary to adjust the settings below to tweak the availability of user ports requested by an application.

If the default limits are exceeded under heavy loads, the following error may be observed: “address in use: connect exception”.  By default under Vista (when the values are not presend in the registry), the OS can allocate up to 16384 ephemeral ports above port 1024, and the OS waits for 120 seconds before reclaiming ports after an application closes the TCP connection. This is a considerable improvement over older Windows versions. However, if necessary, the following registry values can be added/edited:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
MaxUserPort=65535
(DWORD, not in the registry by default. Recommended: leave at default, or use a number above 16384 up to 65535 decimal as necessary) –  maximum number of ports to use. 1024 is automatically subtracted from entered value to allow for reserved ports under 1024.
TcpTimedWaitDelay=30 (DWORD, 0xffffffff in registry by default. Recommended: 30 decimal, denoting 30 seconds) – time to wait before reclaiming ports, in seconds. Default time before reclaiming ports, if value is at 0xffffffff or not present in the registry is 120 seconds. Just reducing the delay is often sufficient without changing MaxUserPort, as it allows for reusing ports more efficiently.

Ephemeral ports can be checked and changed using netsh as well.

To query the current values, in command prompt, type:
netsh int ipv4 show dynamicportrange tcp (for UDP, use the same command, replacing only “tcp” with “udp” at the end)

To set both the starting, and max user port using netsh, in elevated command prompt run:
netsh int ipv4 set dynamicportrange protocol=tcp start=1025 num=64511 (start=NNN denoting the starting port, and num=NNN denoting the number of ports)

Notes:
By default, dynamic ports are allocated between ports 49152 and 65535 (for a total of 16384 ephemeral ports).
Using netsh allows to set both the starting port and port range. Editing the Registry allows for setting the port range, and the starting port is fixed at 1025. Deleting the MaxUserPort registry entry (or setting it to a value outside the allowed range) causes the OS to revert to using the default values.
Some system processes can install port filters to block certain port ranges. If ephemeral ports run into these filtered port ranges, TCP/IP applications will be unable to bind to any ports.

QoS Reserved Bandwidth

As with Windows XP, nework adapters have a “QoS Packet Scheduler” enabled by default, which reserves 20% of bandwidth by default for QoS applications that request priority traffic. Note this only has effect in the presence of running QoS applications that request priority traffic. Registry value is undocumented for the Vista version of Windows. To customize this setting, in the Windows Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Psched
NonBestEffortLimit=0
(DWORD, not present in the registry by default. Recommended: 0 , possible values between 0 and 100) – indicates the percentage value of reserved bandwidth for QoS applications. Set to 0 to disable.

Notes: This tweak applies only to Windows versions that have Qos Packet Scheduler enabled. It will ONLY have effect in the presense of running QoS applications.

Gaming Tweak – Disable Nagle’s algorithm

The tweak below allows for tweaking or disabling Nagle’s alogrithm. Disabling ”nagling” allows for very small packets to be transferred immediately without delay. Note that disabling Nagle’s algorithm is only recommended for some games, and it may have negative impact on file transfers/throughput. The dafault state (Nagling enabled) improves performance by allowing several small packets to be combined together into a single, larger packet for more efficient transmission. While this improves overall performance and reduces TCP/IP overhead, it may briefly delay transmission of smaller packets. Keep in mind that disabling Nagle’s algorithm may have some negative effect on file transfers, and can only help reduce delay in some games. To implement this tweak, in the registry editor (Start>Run>regedit) find:

This setting configures the maximum number of outstanding ACKs in Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{NIC-id}
There will be multiple NIC interfaces listed there, for example: {1660430C-B14A-4AC2-8F83-B653E83E8297}. Find the correct one with your IP address listed. Under this {NIC-id} key, create a new DWORD value:
TcpAckFrequency=1 (DWORD value, 1=disable, 2=default, 2-n=send ACKs if outstanding ACKs before timed interval. Setting not present by default).

For gaming performance, recommended is 1 (disable). For pure throughput and data streaming, you can experiment with values over 2. If you try larger values, just make sure TcpAckFrequency*MTU is less than RWIN, since the sender may stop sending data if RWIN fills witout acknowledgement.

Also, find the following key (if present):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters
Add a new DWORD value:
TCPNoDelay=1 (DWORD value, 0 to enable Nagle’s algorithm, 1 to disable, not present by default)

To configure the ACK interval timeout (only has effect if nagling is enabled), find the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{NIC-id}
TcpDelAckTicks=0 (DWORD value, default=2, 0=disable nagling, 1-6=100-600 ms). Note you can also set this to 1 to reduce the nagle effect from the default of 200ms without disabling it.

Notes:
Reportedly, the above gaming tweak (disabling nagle’s algorithm) can reduce WoW (World of Warcraft) latency by almost half!
XP/2003 needs hotfix or SP2 for it to work (MS KB 815230)
Vista needs hotfix or SP1 for it to work (MS KB 935458)

Posted in Tips, my Vista | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Making your Windows XP broadband faster

Posted by KaMaRaZaMaN on May 3, 2008

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Making your Windows XP broadband faster

REQUIREMENTS: MALAYSIAN USERS; WINDOWS XP; AT LEAST  512MB of MEMORY;

Faster for browsing ONLY, not downloading as Streamyx is throttling the speed of many websites such as megaupload, rapidshare,  etc.  So, don’t blame me if your downloading speed is not consistent, sometimes fast (over 50Kb), sometimes slow (below 15Kb). It is your luck!!! It depends on your auto-configured server IP and/or Fair Usage Policy. Click here for my speed test.

Go to forum at lowyat (click 1, http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/943607) (click 2, http://forum.lowyat.net/BroadbandUser-2-User) for more comments by other people.

Streamyx(click), Celcom(click), Maxis (click) and P1Wimax (click) have this policy, Fair Usage Policy (Tahap Penggunaan Adil), i.e. after downloading files for a certain number of GB, the overall speed is reduced to a very very very slow one for a certain period of time. Call your provider to know more about the policy.

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PART 1: TCPoptimizer

Download TCPoptimizer here at http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php.

a) Click preference -> maximum latency: 400 ms

b) Change the values:

TTL=248 0r 243

PART 2: Cablenut

[CABLENUT]

Download Cablenut from Softpedia.

Use the following settings and click save to registry:

512K

DefaultReceiveWindow = 65536
DefaultSendWindow = 65536
DisableAddressSharing = 1
InitialLargeBufferCount = 200
InitialMediumBufferCount = 480
InitialSmallBufferCount = 640
LargeBufferSize = 819200
MaxFastTransmit = 64000
MediumBufferSize = 150400
Priority Boost = 0
SmallBufferSize = 12800
TransmitWorker = 32
FastSendDatagramThreshhold = 4096
EnableFastRouteLookup = 1
EnablePMTUDiscovery = 1
IgnorePushBitsOnReceives = 0
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = 261360
MaxFreeTcbs = 8000
MaxHashTableSize = 16384
MaxNormLookupMemory = 5000000
SackOpts = 1
SynAttackProtect = 1
Tcp1323Opts = 0
TcpLogLevel = 1
TcpMaxDupAttacks = 3
TcpMaxHalfOpen = 100
TcpMaxHalfOpenRetired = 80
TcpRecvSegmentSize = 1452
TcpSendSegmentSize = 1452
TcpTimedWaitDelay = 30
TcpUseRFC1122UrgentPointer = 0
TcpWindowSize = 261360
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server = 15
MaxConnectionsPerServer = 15
DefaultTimeToLive = 248
DefaultUserTOSSetting = 0
TcpMaxDataRetransmissions = 6
DefaultTOSValue = 240

1M

DefaultReceiveWindow = 131072
DefaultSendWindow = 131072
DisableAddressSharing = 1
InitialLargeBufferCount = 200
InitialMediumBufferCount = 480
InitialSmallBufferCount = 640
LargeBufferSize = 819200
MaxFastTransmit = 64000
MediumBufferSize = 150400
Priority Boost = 0
SmallBufferSize = 12800
TransmitWorker = 32
FastSendDatagramThreshhold = 4096
EnableFastRouteLookup = 1
EnablePMTUDiscovery = 1
IgnorePushBitsOnReceives = 0
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = 261360
MaxFreeTcbs = 8000
MaxHashTableSize = 16384
MaxNormLookupMemory = 5000000
SackOpts = 1
SynAttackProtect = 1
Tcp1323Opts = 0
TcpLogLevel = 1
TcpMaxDupAttacks = 3
TcpMaxHalfOpen = 100
TcpMaxHalfOpenRetired = 80
TcpRecvSegmentSize = 1452
TcpSendSegmentSize = 1452
TcpTimedWaitDelay = 30
TcpUseRFC1122UrgentPointer = 0
TcpWindowSize = 261360
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server = 15
MaxConnectionsPerServer = 15
DefaultTimeToLive = 248
DefaultUserTOSSetting = 0
TcpMaxDataRetransmissions = 6
DefaultTOSValue = 240

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PART 3: Local Area Connection

Settings-> Network connections -> Local Area Connection-> Properties -> General

For Internet Protocol TCP/IP:

Obtain an IP address automatically

DNS (open):

Use the following DNS servers

primary 203.121.16.85
secondary 203.121.16.120

REMOVE

Client for Microsoft Networks

File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

QoS Packet Scheduler

Install TCP/IP 6

Click Install…

Protocol

Microsoft TCP/IP version 6

Click OK

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PART4: Streamyx connection

change DNS for TCP/IP for streamyx

Properties

Networking

Internet Protocol TCP/IP

Properties

Use the following DNS servers

primary 203.121.16.85
secondary 203.121.16.120

REMOVE

Client for Microsoft Networks

File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

QoS Packet Scheduler

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PART 5: QoS packet scheduler

Click Start, Run

gpedit.msc

press Enter

Computer configuration

Administrative Templates

Network

QOS packet scheduler

Limit Reservable Bandwidth

Enable

Bandwidth limit (%): 0

OK

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PART 6: Windows XP System Registry

[REGEDIT]

Start, Run

Regedit

press enter

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AFD\Parameters]

“BufferMultiplier”=dword:00000400

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]

“Class”=dword:00000008

“DnsPriority”=dword:00000003

“HostsPriority”=dword:00000002

“LocalPriority”=dword:00000001

“NetbtPriority”=dword:00000004

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]

“NegativeCacheTime”=dword:00000000

“NetFailureCacheTime”=dword:00000000

“NegativeSOACacheTime”=dword:00000000

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After applying the new settings, sometimes my Streamyx 512k broadband (Package RM66) shows a tremendous speed in browsing and downloading. Most of the time, it is slow. It’s your luck. At least I can enjoy fast speeds from time to time after tweaking the settings.Click here for my speed test.

162KB/sec… I have nothing else to say…

Downloading two files at the same time…





Posted in Computer, Tips | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »