FW: BRIAN LIVINGSTON: "Window Manager" from InfoWorld.com, Monday,June 26, 2000

Tue Jun 27 17:13:47 EDT 2000

Before you all "BURN ME AT THE STAKE", allow me to defend myself, for
bringing such a filthy note to this list.

Knowing that there are still some windows users that subscribe to this list,
I thought that this information may be useful.  Secondly, maybe this trick
can also be applied in LINUX.  That is, if it is necessary.

So!!!  Do I live to see tomorrow, or, is someone lighting the torch, and
getting ready to set the pile of wood that is piled up around me on fire???

Stephen Dawes B.A. B.Sc.
Web Business Office, City of Calgary
PHONE:  (403) 268-5527. FAX: (403) 268-6423
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca

-----Original Message-----
From: WindowManager at bdcimail.com [mailto:WindowManager at bdcimail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 9:20 AM
To: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca
Subject: BRIAN LIVINGSTON: "Window Manager" from InfoWorld.com,
Monday,June 26, 2000

========================================================
BRIAN LIVINGSTON:     "Window Manager"     InfoWorld.com
========================================================

Monday, June 26, 2000

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IMPROVE THE SPEED OF WEB PAGES, VIDEO, AND OTHER NET
TRANSFERS IN WINDOWS 2000 AND 9X

Posted at June 23, 2000 01:01 PM  Pacific

READERS JAMES BLIESE and Ron Houtman report they're
getting greater performance out of their NICs (network
interface cards). This translates into faster Web
downloads if your corporate Internet access or cable
modem/DSL router runs through your NIC.

The trick relates to both Windows 9x and Windows 2000,
although there are different methods to use with each
operating system. Allow me to explain.

Both Bliese and Houtman independently learned of an
obscure setting in Windows 9x that sets aside some of
your RAM to buffer your network card.

This acts in somewhat the same way a disk cache works
to speed up access to your disk files. In some cases,
the setting can also assist devices other than NICs,
if they use an IRQ (interrupt request line). For
example, a PCI-based network card may share an IRQ
with other boards in your system.

By making more RAM available to the IRQ used by your
network card, transfers can move in greater
quantities. This improves throughput 10 percent or
more in some cases. Web pages should display faster,
and streaming video should be smoother.

The tweak can be especially helpful for PCs with 500MHz
CPUs or slower, or with 128MB of RAM or less. This can
add life to older machines that are primarily used to
access Web sites.

The steps I describe below devote 4MB of RAM to the IRQ
used by your NIC. If your PC is particularly short of
RAM (32MB or less), this can take memory away from
applications, slowing down your overall performance.
But if you have more than 32MB of RAM, the trade-off
should be worth it for you.

Step 1. First you need to determine the IRQ used by
your NIC. In Windows 9x, open the System control panel
and select the Device Manager. Double-click the
Computer icon. Under the View Resources tab, select
IRQ and note the number(s) used by your NIC(s).
(PCI-based network cards often use IRQ 9, but it may
be a different number.) Close the control panel.

Step 2. You now need to edit a line into your
System.ini file. That's right -- Windows 9x gets this
setting out of the old text file we learned to love in
Windows 3.x. Click Start, Run, type Sysedit.exe,and
click OK. In the System.ini window, add the following
line anywhere in the section headed [386enh]: Irq9=4096

This adds a buffer of 4096KB (4MB) to IRQ 9. If your
NIC is on a different interrupt, change the label to
Irq12 or whatever the correct number is.

If you have two NICs, use two separate lines to buffer
them both. Exit Sysedit, saving your changes, and
restart Windows 9x for the change to take effect.

That's it. If you ever change the IRQ used by your NIC,
remember to change the setting in System.ini at the
same time.

If you ever want to go back to the default value,
simply remove any lines you inserted into System.ini
and restart Windows.

The effect is described in more detail by Speedguide at
http://www.speedguide.net/Cable_modems/cable_irq.shtml
(you must type an uppercase "C" in this address).
Speedguide is sponsored by U.S. Interconn, a
Florida-based technical company recommended on
Microsoft's TechNet resource lists. (Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/win98  or
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/win2000 , then
click Web Sites in the right-hand column
to see this and other resources.)

The above procedure should not be used under Windows
2000, which handles networking differently than does
Win 9x.

Even with its networking enhancements, however, Windows
2000 is designed for a wide range of users and may not
be optimized for broadband communications in your
particular system.

Speedguide recommends that you add some settings to the
Windows 2000 Registry to control the TCP Window. This
is a memory buffer for Internet transfers. Unlike
Windows NT 4.0, which limited the buffer to 64KB,
Windows 2000 is optimized when set to approximately
364KB.

If you don't like editing the Registry, Speedguide
provides small files you can download to make the
changes for you and undo them later if you wish.

To make the Windows 2000 changes, go to
http://www.speedguide.net/Cable_modems/cable_reg_win2k.shtml
(remember the capital "C"). For more information, read
the Related Links at the bottom of each page.

Readers Bliese and Houtman will receive free copies of
Windows 98 Secrets for being the first to send in
these tips.

Brian Livingston's most recent book is Windows 2000
Secrets (IDG Books). Send tips to
brian_livingston at infoworld.com. He regrets he cannot
answer individual questions.

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MORE WINDOW MANAGER
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http://www.infoworld.com/opinions/morewindowmanager_f.html

INFOWORLD OPINIONS
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"This is not a tech-driven thing, it's a participant-driven
thing. To make online markets worthwhile, you need to attract a
high volume of buyers and sellers."

-- Tig Gilliam, a partner at e-business solutions provider
PricewaterhouseCoopers, speaking about online markets.

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/06/26/000626hnetrend.xml?0626mnl
v

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