How To Boost Your Internet Speed!

Secret to Unlocking Blazing Fast Speeds. A step by step guide to supercharge your Internet browsing speed!
time is money

Time is money. A slow computer, a slow Internet connection, all of it adds up to a slow result and wasted money. Have you ever wondered, "How do I get my lame ass Internet speed to be a bit faster?" Well, we are going to tell you with an easy to follow set of instructions. (We have only tested this method using DSL or Cable connections to the Internet.)

Inspiration from "ispeedboost"

Step 1: Gathering Software

Go ahead and take the time to read over this entire page, top to bottom, before doing anything. That will give you a good overview and better understanding of what you are about to do. When you are ready to start, you will need all of the following software in order to make this method work. Skip the ones you already have.

  1. FireFox . If you have it, cool. If not, you should get it for better browsing.
  2. Mozilla FireFox on its own does not always provide the fastest browsing speed -- some would say it's at least better than Microsoft Internet Explorer though! Anyways, what you need here is a freeware browser add-on called FireTune from Totalidea Software. Keep it aside for a while, we'll come back to it soon.
  3. Third, you'll need the freeware Microsoft Windows utility called SG TCP Optimizer from SpeedGuide.net.
  4. Next, you need Lvllord's TCPIP.SYS Patch to increase the number of concurrent TCP connections. More about this topic in just a second.

Step 2: Action Time

Okay, so you've download or gathered up all required software, what now? Here's what to do next. By the way, now is as good a time as any to give you the following disclaimer: Backup your system, set a restore point, backup your registry, save all of your important files to your favorite USB flash drive or CD-ROM, try to pull a random file from your backups to make sure the backups are valid, proceed at your own risk, you are responsible for things you do (not us), you are responsible for your own equipment and software config (not us), you are responsible for any damages that might occur (not us), and please don't attempt to do something you don't fully understand. If you are uncomfortable, don't change anything at all, instead consult a higher power. For the few, the brave, the plucky computer users of the world, feel free to continue with that disclaimer in mind.

  1. Modifying your LAN Properties.
    1. Make sure you are logged in with a local administrator account, or a Microsoft Windows account that has sufficient rights to make these changes.
    2. Go to the Start menu --> Control Panel --> Network Connections as shown in the following screenshot. Open the icon for Network Connections.
      Screenshot of XP control panel

       

    3. Inside the control panel for network connections, go to your local area network, or your main Internet connection, and bring up the properties dialog box by right clicking on the icon as shown in the following screenshot, and selecting the menu item called properties.
      Screenshot of XP network icon

       

    4. Inside the properties dialog box, make the following changes: clear all of the checkboxes (the screenshot below has a red oval around these checkboxes) except for the one called "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" (the screenshot below has a red arrow pointing to it).
      Screenshot of XP network properties

       

    5. Select the OK button to save your changes and exit the properties dialog box.
  2. Running Lvllords TCPIP.SYS Patch. If you are running Microsoft Windows XP SP2, your previously unlimited connections (for example, XP1 and earlier) have been restricted to 10. Once you reach the hard limit, you'll see Event ID: 4226 in your Microsoft Windows system event logs with this message, "TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent (incomplete) TCP connect attempts." Connection-rate limitations may cause your Internet experience to become frustrating and slow! Not good, thus the need for a quick patch, and I don't mean the Nicotine Patch!
    1. Download the ZIP file and extract the patch utility to a location you will remember on your hard drive; I just put it on my D drive for convenience.
    2. Open the command prompt, also known as the DOS window from the good old days, and use the /? parameter to view all options for this utility.
      Screenshot of Lvllord Patch utility

       

    3. Remember, if you do not run this utility as a local administrator, or a Microsoft Windows account that has sufficient rights to make these changes, you will get denied as shown in the following screenshot.
      Screenshot of Lvllord Patch utility

       

    4. Run the utility and press "C" to change the connection limit and set it to 100.
    5. Press "Y" to continue.
    6. Immediately you should be prompted with a Microsoft Windows message saying that your original files are being replaced. Select the "Ignore" or "Cancel" button for that dialog box, then answer "Yes" after it asks for a confirmation.
    7. You will get a message that your patch was successfully executed. Exit and reboot your computer. (Be sure to bookmark MySpeedBoost.com using CTRL+D so you can return to this page once you've rebooted.)

       

  3. How to use SG TCP Optimizer. Back already after the reboot? Great! So, this is where you use SpeedGuide's TCP Optimizer. How? Read on . . . our instructions are below but you can also use the documentation and FAQ.
    Screenshot of SpeedGuide

     

    1. This program modfies your system registry in order to boost your internet speed. Choose your connection speed - mine is 256 kbps. Go down and select "Optimal Settings". Click on Apply changes after that.
    2. Select the OK button when you are prompted.
    4. Answer "Yes" to reboot your computer. (Be sure to bookmark MySpeedBoost.com using CTRL+D before you reboot, so you can return to this page for the final steps).
  4. FireTune - Final Step, Baby! I'm assuming that you're already using FireFox.
    Screenshot of FireTune

     

    1. Make sure your Mozilla FireFox browser is closed.
    2. Install the FireTune program.
    3. After installation click on "Create backup configuration" first.
    4. Next, choose the settings according to your needs and computer configuration. Be sure to take a look the other two tabs called "Other Optimizations" and "Other useful settings."
    5. Once you have inspected all settings and selected your changes, click "Tune It!"

Step 3: Enjoy!

Another interesting thing I saw (from Softpedia) was using an online stopwatch to prove your before and after speed results. The stopwatch can help you determine if Firefox is faster after optimizing it. Before doing your Firefox optimization, clear your browser cache, and use the stopwatch page to browse to another site. Make a note of the time it takes to load that page. That was the "before" test.

The "after" test can be done after you clear your browser cache, exit the browser, optimize with FireTune, then go to the stopwatch page and browse to the same site you visited earlier. Make a note of the page loading time and compare your before/after results. I hope everything is faster for you, even if it is only slightly faster, that's a nice improvement. Good luck!

And finally, just so you know, you can remove annoying spyware with a FREE scan at Spyware AXE. Some of the best tips and tricks we've seen can be found on this other excellent website resource, but I hope you liked our brief guide. If so, please share it among your friends, digg it, vote for it, stumble it, and generally tell everyone you know about it.