Dec 16, 2006
Internet Settings
Last time we spoke about one of the most common problems with internet connections: internet connection overbooking.
Although you’re ISP (Internet Service Provider) level of service normally has the biggest impact on the quality of your internet connection. There are a few other factors that can dramatically affect your internet connection quality and speed.
One of those important factors is the network settings on your PC.
To understand why your PC network settings can affect the quality of your internet connection you first need to gain some basic understanding of how this wonderful thing called the internet works (Do not be intimidated, this is not internet 101, only a brief general explanation)
If you feel you have a good grasp of how the internet works, feel free to skip the next few paragraphs.
We humans (at least most of us), behave according to predefined behavioral patterns or protocols that are set by society. Those protocols help regulate and formulate our behaviors in different social situations; i.e. they guide us what to say when we meet some one, how to act when we sit at the dinner table etc.
Those social protocols are necessary for the efficient trouble free operation of human society.
The same way most humans behave according to some protocol that governs normal behavior, so do network communications, behave according to predefined protocols.
Network communications protocols define and regulate how the communicating parties transfer information between each other.
All network communications are governed by protocols.
All internet based communications use a protocol called TCP/IP.
This protocol governs how data will be sent and received to/from your computer to/from the internet.
The TCP/IP protocol is very resilient and was built to withstand various network problems and failures (This is why your internet connection can work even under appalling network conditions imposed by some ISP’s).
When faced with varying network conditions (delays, congestion, data loss etc) the TCP/IP protocol has built in mechanisms to automatically adjust it self, fix some errors and try to optimize data transmission speed.
Some important TCP/IP settings can be fine tuned and configured on every computer that accesses the internet.
The default TCP/IP settings for Windows based computers are not optimized for every computer’s connection type and bandwidth. Instead they were set in a way that would work well on average, for most internet connection types.
Further more, some settings, depending on the version of Windows you have, were set years ago when internet connections were much slower on average. So today they are far from optimal for many internet connection types.
To get the most out of your internet connection there are a couple of settings that can be tweaked (changed) in order to meet the requirements of your specific internet connection type and bandwidth.
Normally changing those settings require some technical knowledge that is beyond the scope of most PC users.
To make it easier and more accessible we designed a tool, called the internet optimizer that you can use to change those settings and bring them to a more optimal level.
It is free and can be used any time you feel your internet connection is under performing or when your network conditions change (for example: when switching between a wireless to a non wireless connection).
The internet optimizer tool guides you through a few easy of steps in which information is gathered from you, you’re PC and from your internet connection.
As a result of those steps the internet optimizer will find the current optimal TCP/IP settings for your PC.
You will then be able to view the new settings, edit them (if you are an expert), backup your old settings (in case you wish to restore your old settings for any reason) and finally apply the new settings to your system.
Note that for most changes to take effect you will need to restart your computer.
This is due to a “smart” design decision made by Microsoft.
Microsoft recently recognized the need to be able to change internet settings automatically, without restarting the computer, to accommodate varying network conditions. Windows Vista and Long Horn will automate some of the changes that need to be done in order to optimize your internet connection.
Until next time,
DR. OOS.
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