Computer World...!: June 2007

Monday, June 11, 2007

How to add subtitles to movies

So lets start.first you have to find your subtitle, check out these sites for that
Code:http://www.divxplanet.net/
http://www.divxsubtitles.net/index.php
http://divxstation.com/subtitles.asp
http://www.divxmovies.com/subtitles/
http://www.subtitles.ro/
http://subtitles.images.o2.cz/
http://forum.divxsweden.net/ipdl.php
http://divxstation.com/searchSubtitles.asp
http://www.subtitles.de/main.php?l=search
http://extratitles.to/
http://subtitles.7nights.net/
http://ftp.build.bg/DivX/Subtitles/
http://free.bol.bg/dijon/Subtitles/
http://extratitles.to/
http://www.napisy.info/
http://www.paginialbe.net/subtitrari/
http://www.napisy.org/
http://www.hot.ee/subland/ (Estonian, English and Finland subs)
http://sub.divx.ee/ (Estonian subs)
http://frigorifix.com/ (French Subs)
http://www.kloofy.com (Asian Subs)
http://www.divxsweden.net (Swedish subs)
http://www.legendasdivx.com (Portuguese)
http://www.calorifix.net/forums/accueil/accueil.php (French)
http://dvd.umedia.ee/index.php?leht=subtiitrid (Estonian subs)
http://subclub.future.ee/subtitles.php (Estonian subs)
http://subtitrari.softpedia.com (Romanian subs)
http://www.legendas-ed2k.com (Portuguese subs)
http://napisy.org/ (Polish Subs)
http://www.titlovi.com/Default.aspx?page=subtitles (Yugoslavian Subs)
http://livada.pondi.hr/index2.htm (Serbian, Slovenian, Croat, Macedonian)
http://www.serbiancafe.ws/divx/ (Serbian subs)
http://www.central-subtitles.com
http://www.nlondertitels.com/ (Dutch subs)
http://www.podnapisi.net/
http://www.undertexter.se/ (Swedish subs)
http://dvd.stuff.gr/subtitles/ (Greek subs)
http://www.dvd4arab.com/
http://www.ondertitel.com/
http://pan4o.com/downloads/sub/
http://subscene.com/
http://www.opensubtitles.org/en
http://www.subtitles-divx.net

After u have found the required subtitleYou unzip it and then you get a file with a name and the extension is .srtPut it in the same folder where the movie is and rename the file to the name of the movie example

Name movie: Pirates of The Caribbean 2 - Dead Mans Chest.DvdRip.CD1Name subtitle: xxxx.srt

Rename it to:Name movie: Pirates of The Caribbean 2 - Dead Mans Chest.DvdRip.CD1Name subtitle: Pirates of The Caribbean 2 - Dead Mans Chest.DvdRip.CD1.srt

and lo when you play the movie the sub are shown

THE problems faced:sometimes the subs and the audio are not synchronised. this is because of the different bit rate. so check the bitrate before downloading.or download different subs for the same movie until it matches.(max file size is 80KB) so it wont be a probs.

Enjoy !

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Protecting yourself when downloading using µTorrent

If you've been using BitTorrent to download any of the more popular files, such as the latest episode of some major TV show, you may have found yourself receiving lots of "Wasted" data. This is data that has been discarded after being deemed corrupt or invalid by your BitTorrent client. Every so often, you will have received more wasted data than the size of the files you are downloading!

This is happening because Anti-P2P organizations are actively polluting P2P networks with fake peers, which send out fake or corrupt data in order to waste bandwidth and slow down file transfers. At its worst, when downloading major copyrighted torrents, as much as a fourth of the peers you are connected to can be attributed to various Anti-P2P agencies. There is also a much more serious side to this. Once you've established a connection to one of these fake "peers", your IP has been logged and will most likely be sent to the RIAA/MPAA!
But there is a way to fight back! If you are using the latest µTorrent (1.5), you can employ a little known feature called IP filtering. The author of µTorrent has gone out of his way to hide it, but it's there nonetheless.

But before we can activate this filter, we need to retrieve a list of currently known Anti-P2P organization IPs.
This is most easily done by downloading the latest blacklist from Bluetack (the same people who wrote SafePeer for the Azureus BT client) at http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/nipfilter.dat.gz This list is updated daily, and contains all known Anti-P2P organizations, trackers and peers, aswell as all known Goverment/Military IP addresses as collected by the Bluetack team. Once downloaded, extract and rename the file original filename "ipfilter.dat" to "ipfilter.dat" in preparation for the final step.

EDIT ADD: FOR EVEN HIGHER SECURITY
Paranoid pipfilter.dat.gz
Description: This list is all the blacklists bluetack makes put into a .dat.gz file for emule, now this will block some isp and also alot of things one may not think needed. Use at your own risk. This will have to be unzipped and then replace the .dat file manualy, in the config folder.
Version: Filesize: 0 bytes
Added on: 29-Apr-2005 Downloads: 39034
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=68
rename to "ipfilter.dat"
security related:
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2

To make the list available to µTorrent, you need to place the renamed ipfilter.dat file in %AppData%\uTorrent. Go to Start -> Run and type %AppData%\uTorrent at the box. Click Ok button and a folder will appear.

After placing the ipfilter.dat in this folder, start µTorrent and go into preferences (Ctrl+P), then click on "Advanced". In the right hand pane, make sure that "ipfilter.enable" is set to true, and then close the dialog. That's it for the configuration.

You can verify that the list has been loaded by looking under the "Logging" tab of µTorrent, where you should see the line "Loaded ipfilter.dat (X entries)".

Congratulations! You are now protected against most of the garbage-distributing peers; and the likelyhood of the RIAA or MPAA knocking at your door has been substantially reduced! I'd go as far as to say that you shouldn't be using µTorrent at all without this feature turned on! And even if the law enforcement side of it doesn't bother you, you should still be interested in reducing the amount of garbage data that gets sent your way, which in turn leads to quicker downloads, and isn't that something everybody should strive for?

Making a winrar archive - Tutorial

Open Winrar, select your files to archive and click this button The General dialog

Archive name

Enter the name manually or press the "Browse" button to browse for the archive name. You may enter a name containing a disk letter or the full path to the archive. Profiles

Opens the menu allowing to create new, organize and select compression profiles. Compression profiles allow you to quickly restore previously saved compression options or to specify default options for this dialog. WinRAR provides a few predefined profiles optimized for creating e-mail attachments, backup files and other operations. See the topic Compression profiles for more information. Archive Format

Chose the format you want. If ZIP format selected, some advanced options, not supported by this archive format, will be disabled.

Compression method

When creating a new archive, you first need to select the archive format. ZIP is preferable only if you are not sure that a receiver of your archive has WinRAR. Otherwise it is recommended to select RAR, which supports more functions and higher compression. See RAR versus ZIP in the introduction topic. Regardless of the archive format the next step is the selection of compression method. Six compression methods are supported:
"Store", "Fastest", "Fast", "Normal", "Good" and "Best". The "Best" method provides highest, but slowest compression.
"Fastest" compresses poorly, but is very fast.
"Store" merges files into an archive without compression. If you create an archive for distribution or for long storage, probably you should ignore time and use the "Best" compression method to reduce the size as much as possible.
"Normal" compression is usually the best choice for daily backups.

If you selected the ZIP archive format, your preparations are finished on this stage. The features below are supported only by RAR archives.

The next parameter is dictionary size. It can be 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024KB. Higher values of this parameter lead to better, but slower compression, so from this side it is similar to selecting compression method. Generally the best decision is to set the dictionary size to 1024KB and use the compression method to regulate the size/speed ratio. But a larger dictionary size requires more memory, memory usage can be estimated, approximately, as <> *5 + 2560 KB. If your computer has only 16 MB of memory, you should select a lower dictionary size value, for example, 256 KB. NOTE : that if you create a self-extracting archive using DOS SFX module, the dictionary size must be 64KB, because DOS SFX cannot handle larger dictionary. This limitation does not exist for other SFX modules.

NOTE : that neither compression method nor dictionary size change the extraction speed or extraction memory requirements.
The next option is solid archiving. This mode is explained in the Solid archives topic, so here only the main concept will be given. If you need to maximize compression - use solid mode, if you need to have maximum archive updating speed or if you want to minimize data losses in case of archive damage, do not use solid mode.

A special topic is multimedia compression. It tries to use an additional algorithm to improve compression of data such as digital audio, containing up to four 8-bit or two 16-bit channels or true color (24-bit) bit maps. Improvement in the compression ratio up to 30% over the normal compression may be achieved but when this method is applied to normal data, in most cases it will not change compression. It's possible that, when applied to normal data, compression may be only slightly improved or in some cases even decreased. NOTE : that this method cannot improve compression of already packed audio or graphics, so there is no sense to use it with JPEG or MPEG files. But it can show good results on unpacked WAV and true color BMP files.
These are all the main settings, which affect compression ratio and speed. Actually, you do not need to set them before each archiving. Simply select your favorite default values once in the default compression profile, which can be created from the "Compression settings dialog" and later you may change values in the "Archive name and parameters dialog" or using command line switches, when executing WinRAR from the command line. The only exception is archive format, which does not have a selection command line switch. Instead to overwrite the default archive format settings in the command line you should specify complete archive name with .RAR or .ZIP extension. In the WinRAR shell mode, the archive format can be selected in Archive name and parameters dialog in the same way as all other settings.

Volume size, bytes

By default it is entered in bytes. But if you add a lower case letter 'k' at the end of the volume size, the entered value will be considered as kilo bytes (multiplied by 1024). Use an upper case 'K' to denote thousand of bytes (multiply by 1000), 'm' means megabyte and 'M' - million of bytes. NOTE : that if you are archiving to a removable disk, you may select "Auto detect" from the list and WinRAR will choose the volume size automatically for each new volume.

Update mode

Add and replace files (default) :
Always replace archived files, which have same name as files to be added. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive.

Add and update files :
Replace archived files only if added files are newer. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive.

Freshen existing files only :
Replace archived files only if added files are newer. Do not add those files, which are not present in the archive.

Synchronize archive contents :
Replace archived files only if added files are newer. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive. Delete those archived files, which are not present in the added files. It looks similar to creating a new archive, but with the one important exception : if no files are modified since a last backup, the operation is performed much faster than the creation of a new archive.

Archiving options

Delete files after compression : The original files will only be deleted after a successful compression.

Create SFX archive

Creates a self-extracting archive (exe file), which can be unpacked without using any other programs. You may select the type of SFX module and set a few other SFX parameters like a destination folder in the Advanced options of this dialog.

Create solid archive

Creates a solid archive. Usually gives higher compression ratios, but applies some restrictions.

Put Authenticity verification

Put, in the archive, information concerning the creator, last update time and archive name. In archive management mode it is possible to read the authenticity information using the Show archive information.

Put recovery record

Adds the recovery record, which may help to restore an archive in case of damage. You may specify a size of the recovery record in the Advanced options of this dialog. But the default value is about 1 % of the total archive size.

Lock archive

A locked archive cannot be modified by WinRAR. You may lock important archives to prevent accidental modification.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

CAN'T ACCESS SOME WEBSITES?

Does this happen to you? Every now and then when posting or previewing a post, or simply browsing; you get the page not available message or takes a long time to view? If you look at your firewall's log, you'll see that your ISP's and/or router IP is blocked (192.168.1.254 or .1).

Find the IP address of your gateway. If you're using Windows 2000 or XP, run IPCONFIG at a command prompt on the Host computer. If you're using Windows 98 or Me, run WINIPCFG on the Host computer. Either way, you'll get an address that looks like xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (where the x's represent numbers).
1. Then, go to one of your Client machines, and type the following:
2. PING -f -l 1500 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
  (where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the gateway address you obtained in the first step). You'll probably get an error message indicating that it must be fragmented. If you do, type the following:
3. PING -f -l 1492 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
  If that doesn't work, try this:
4. PING -f -l 1472 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
The numbers in each of these examples (1500, 1492, 1472) are the MTU values. Continue issuing this command with lower and lower MTU numbers until you get ping responses instead of an error message. The highest MTU value that works is the one you need to be using. If an MTU of 1500 (the first command, above) does not produce an error, then this solution won't work for you.

The next step is to configure all your Client computers to use the new, lower MTU as the default for all Internet communication.

Windows 2000 and XP:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) on one of your "Client" machines.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Tcpip\ Parameters\ Interfaces
There should be several subkeys under the Interfaces key; most likely, you'll find three. View the contents of each key by clicking, and find the one that corresponds to your primary network adapter; it will be the one with more values than the other two, and will have an IP address value set to something like 192.168.0.x.
Once you've found the correct subkey, create a new DWORD value in it (Edit -> New -> DWORD Value), and name the value MTU.
Double-click the new value, choose the Decimal option, and type the MTU value determined above.
Click Ok when you're done - you'll need to restart Windows for this change take effect.
Repeat this for each Client machine.

Windows 98/Me:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) on one of your "Client" machines.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Class\ Net\
Under that branch, find a key (numbered, such as 0005) that contains has TCP/IP assigned to the DriverDesc value.
Select New from the Edit menu, then String Value, and type MaxMTU for the name of the new value.
Double-click the new value, choose the Decimal option, and type the MTU value determined above.
Click Ok when you're done - you'll need to restart Windows for this change take effect.
Repeat this for each Client machine.

PROGRAMS

REFERENCES:

Code:

http://rfc.net/rfc1191.html
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314053
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/105/38.shtml
http://www.speedguide.net/tcpoptimizer.php
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?page=rwin
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?page=ping
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?page=dslpppoe
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?page=2kxpdef
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?page=win9xme
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?board=8;action=display;threadid=2150
http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?page=dslwire1
http://www.j79zlr.com/cablenutXP2k.php http://www.j79zlr.com/cablenutME98.php
http://secinf.net/info/nt/2000ip/tcpipimp.html
http://www.perfectdrivers.com/

RESULTS WILL VARY
No matter how good your systems may be, they're only as effective as what you put into them.

REGISTRY TWEAKS TO SPEED UP YOUR INTERNET SPEED

Instructions: Open notepad, copy and paste the code, then save using the names I have here. Click that file and select "YES" to apply the tweak. You may have to reboot for the tweak to work.

WARNING: editing the registry can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, make sure to USE YOUR HEAD, if you removed something you didn't want to, don't worry, just use the back up in this program

DNS Parameters (dns.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
  "CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
  "CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
  "MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
  "MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d
  When you type a site's address and click go, the browser will have to resolve that address into an IP first. With this tweak the DNS is used so it would not be needed to ask for such info every time you click go.
Scheduled Tasks (remote.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/ Microsoft/ Windows/ Current Version/ Explorer/ RemoteComputer/ NameSpace]
  Find the key named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} and delete it.
  This key instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks on remote computers. Most people don't ever use it, so why keep it.
Forward Buffer Memory (buffer.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
  "ForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00024a00
  "NumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a
  "MaxForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00024a00
  "MaxNumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a
  This controls how much RAM TCP/IP uses for storing packet data in the router packet queue.
Special Tweak-TCPIP1 (tcpip1.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AFD\Parameters]
  "DefaultReceiveWindow"=dword:00004000
  "DefaultSendWindow"=dword:00004000
  "DisableAddressSharing"=dword:00000000
  "DisableRawSecurity"=dword:00000000
  "DynamicBacklogGrowthDelta"=dword:00000032
  "FastCopyReceiveThreshold"=dword:00000800
  "FastSendDatagramThreshold"=dword:00000800
  "IgnorePushBitOnReceives"=dword:00000000
  "IrpStackSize"=dword:00000004
  "LargeBufferListDepth"=dword:0000000a
  "LargeBufferSize"=dword:00002000
  "MaxActiveTransmitFileCount"=dword:00000002
  "MaxFastTransmit"=dword:00000040
  "MaxFastCopyTransmit"=dword:00000080
  "MediumBufferListDepth"=dword:00000018
  "MediumBufferSize"=dword:00001000
  "OverheadChargeGranularity"=dword:00000001
  "PriorityBoost"=dword:00000002
  "SmallBufferSize"=dword:00000400
  "SmallBufferListDepth"=dword:00000020
  "StandardAddressLength"=dword:00000018
  "TransmitWorker"=dword:00000020
Special Tweak-TCPIP 2 (tcpip2.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{3FEFA8E3-66C7-4C49-BCB0-3B4078E677C2}]
  "MTU"=dword:000005c0
  "MaxMTU"=dword:000005dc
  "RWIN"=dword:00001f8e
Cable/56K Modem (cable.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
  "ForwardBroadcasts"=dword:00000000
  "IPEnableRouter"=dword:00000000
  "UseDomainNameDevolution"=dword:00000000
  "EnableICMPRedirect"=dword:00000000
  "DeadGWDetectDefault"=dword:00000001
  "DontAddDefaultGatewayDefault"=dword:00000000
  "EnableSecurityFilters"=dword:00000001
  "AllowUnqualifiedQuery"=dword:00000000
  "PrioritizeRecordData"=dword:00000001
  "TCP1320Opts"=dword:00000001
  "TcpWindowSize"=dword:0003e900
  "TcpMaxDupAcks"=dword:00000001
  "EnablePMTUDiscovery"=dword:00000001
  "EnableFastRouteLookup"=dword:00000000
  "FFPControlFlags"=dword:00000001
  "FFPFastForwardingCacheSize"=dword:00030d40
  "ForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00019df7
  "MaxFreeTcbs"=dword:000007d0
  "MaxFreeTWTcbs"=dword:000007d0
  "MaxHashTableSize"=dword:00000800
  "MaxNormLookupMemory"=dword:00030d40
  "GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize"=dword:0003e900
  "TcpRecvSegmentSize"=dword:000005c0
  "LargeBufferSize"=dword:00002000
  "CacheTimeout"=dword:0000ea60
  "TCP132Opts"=dword:00000001
  "MaxForwardBufferMemory"=dword:001f4000
  "AllowUserRawAccess"=dword:00000000
  "ArpCacheLife"=dword:000002bc
  "ArpCacheSize"=dword:00000080
  "BufferMultiplier"=dword:00000200
  "DefaultRegistrationTTL"=dword:00000014
  "DefaultTTL"=dword:00000030
  "DisableAddressSharing"=dword:00000001
  "DisableReplaceAddressesInConflicts"=dword:00000000
  "DisableReverseAddressRegistrations"=dword:00000001
  "DisjointNameSpace"=dword:00000001
  "DynamicBacklogGrowthDelta"=dword:00000032
  "EnableDeadGWDetect"=dword:00000000
  "EnablePMTUBHDetect"=dword:00000000
  "IPReassemblyTimeOut"=dword:0000005a
  "KeepAliveTime"=dword:00023280
  "NoNameReleaseOnDemand"=dword:00000001
  "PerformRouterDiscovery"=dword:00000002
  "QueryIpMatching"=dword:00000000
  "SackOpts"=dword:00000001
  "SmallBufferSize"=dword:00000800
  "SmallerBufferSize"=dword:00000400
  "SynAckProtect"=dword:00000002
  "Tcp1323Opts"=dword:00000003
  "TCPDisableReceiveChecksum"=dword:00000000
  "TCPDisableSendChecksum"=dword:00000000
  "TcpKeepCnt"=dword:00000064
  "TcpKeepTries"=dword:0000000a
  "TcpLogLevel"=dword:00000000
  "TcpMaxConnectAttempts"=dword:00000002
  "TcpMaxHalfOpen"=dword:00000064
  "TcpMaxHalfOpenRetried"=dword:00000050
  "TcpMaxRetransmissionAttempts"=dword:00000005
  "TcpNumConnections"=dword:00000080
  "TcpSendDownMax"=dword:00008000
  "TcpSendSegmentSize"=dword:000005c0
  "TcpTimedWaitDelay"=dword:0000001e
  "UDPDisableSendChecksum"=dword:00000000
  "UDPDisableReceiveChecksum"=dword:00000000
  "UpdateSecurityLevel "=dword:00000000
  "TcpUseRFC1122UrgentPointer"=dword:00000000
  "MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:0000000a
  "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:00000014
  "FastSendDatagramThreshold"=dword:00001000
  "TransmitWorker"=dword:00000020
  "InitialSmallBufferCount"=dword:00000140
  "InitialMediumBufferCount"=dword:000000f0
  "InitialLargeBufferCount"=dword:00000064
  "DefaultReceiveWindow"=dword:0000e666
  "DefaultSendWindow"=dword:0000e666
  "MediumBufferSize"=dword:00001000
  "IgnorePushBitOnReceives"=dword:00000000
  "PriorityBoost"=dword:00000000
  "MaxFastTransmit"=dword:0000fa00
  "DefaultTOSValue"=dword:0000005c
  "IGMPLevel"=dword:00000002
  "BSDUrgent"=dword:00000001
  "BCastNameQueryCount"=dword:00000001
  "BcastQueryTimeout"=dword:00000064
  "LocalCopyMade"=dword:00000001
  "KeepAliveInterval"=dword:0000015e
  "MaxConnections"=dword:00000064
  "MaxConnectRetries"=dword:00000005
  "MaxDataRetries"=dword:00000063
  "LanaBase"=dword:00000000
  "NameTableSize"=dword:000000ff
  "NameSrvQueryTimeout"=dword:00000064
  "SessionKeepAlive"=dword:00001c20
  "SessionTableSize"=dword:000000ff
  "TcpMaxDataRetransmissions"=dword:00000006
  "DisableUserTOSSetting"=dword:00000000
  "Size/Small/Medium/Large"=dword:00000003
  "MaxDupAcks"=dword:00000003
  "RoutingBufSize"=dword:00023c00
  "RoutingPackets"=dword:00000064
  "MaxNumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a
  "NumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a
LanMan Workstation (lanman.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters]
  "AutoShareWks"=dword:00000000
  "AutoShareServer"=dword:00000000
  "MaxCmds"=dword:00000020
  "MaxThreads"=dword:00000020
  "MaxCollectionCount"=dword:00000020
  "CacheFileTimeout"=dword:0000000f
  "DormantFileLimit"=dword:00000032
NetBT Parameters (netbt.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]
  "NbProvider"="_tcp"
  "NameServerPort"=dword:00000089
  "BcastQueryTimeout"=dword:000002ee
  "NameSrvQueryCount"=dword:00000003
  "NameSrvQueryTimeout"=dword:000005dc
  "Size/Small/Medium/Large"=dword:00000001
  "SessionKeepAlive"=dword:0036ee80
  "TransportBindName"="\\Device\\"
  "EnableLMHOSTS"=dword:00000001
  "EnablePortLocking"=dword:00000001
  "BcastNameQueryCount"=dword:00000001
  "CacheTimeout"=dword:0000ea60
  "Size/Small/Medium/Large"=dword:00000003
  "NoNameReleaseOnDemand"=dword:00000001
MRU/MTU (mru_mtu.reg)
1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{3FEFA8E3-66C7-4C49-BCB0-3B4078E677C2}]
  "MTU"=dword:000005c0
  "MaxMTU"=dword:000005dc
  "RWIN"=dword:00001f8e

RESULTS WILL VARY
No matter how good your systems may be, they're only as effective as what you put into them.

HOW TO STOP SPAM VIA WINDOWS MESSENGER SERVICE

About The Messenger Service

Messenger is a Windows Service that runs in the background
Messenger is not the same as MSN Messenger or any other Instant Messaging Program
Messenger does not facilitate two-way chatting
Many Windows Programs, Firewalls, UPS and Antiviruses require the Messenger Service
Antivirus and UPS software, among others, may not work if Messenger is disabled
The Messenger Service is usually turned on by default in most Windows NT, 2K and XP systems

Manually
1. Example 1
  1. Click Start, Run and enter the following command:
    RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
    NOTE: This will prevent a long delay when opening Outlook Express if you have the Contacts pane enabled
  2. To prevent this, click Start, Run and enter {REGEDIT} Go to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
  3. Right click in the right pane and select New, Dword value
  4. Give it the name Hide Messenger Double click this new entry and set the value to 2
  5. End result should look EXACTLY like this:
    System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Outlook Express]
    Value Name: Hide Messenger
    Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
    Value Data: (2 = remove messenger)
2. Example 2
  1. Copy and paste the following to Run Command Bar in the Start Menu:
    RunDll32.exe advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection
    %windir%\inf\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
3. Example 3
  1. If Example 5 didn't work, then try this - Many users miss or don't know of it
  2. Click on Start then go to RUN and type:
    C:\WINDOWS\inf\sysoc.inf
  3. Change:
    msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
  4. To:
    msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7
  5. Then use Add/Remove Windows Components to remove Messenger
    NOTE: You can also prevent access to Windows Messenger using Group Policy or the Set Program Access and Defaults utility added by default in Windows XP SP1 and Windows 2000 SP3
4. Example 4
  1. Open Windows Messenger
  2. From the menu, select "Tools" then "Options" then "Preferences" tab
  3. Uncheck "Run this program when Windows starts"
  4. Open Outlook Express
  5. From the menu, select "Tools" then "Options" then "General" tab
  6. Uncheck the option to "Automatically log on", if it's there
  7. Also in Outlook Express, select "View" then "Layout"
  8. Uncheck the option to "display Contacts" - The program will open a connection and display a list of all Contacts on line if you do not
  9. In "Startup Folder" make sure there is no entry there for Messenger
  10. Open Norton Anti-Virus if you have it installed
  11. Click "Options" then "Instant Messenger"
  12. Unckeck "Windows Messenger (recommended"
    NOTE: This list ought to work in disassociate MSN from Outlook Express, so that it'll only start up if you really want it to
5. Example 5
  1. 2000
    - Click Start-> Settings-> Control Panel-> Administrative Tools->Services
    - Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
    - Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
    - Click the STOP button
    - Select Disable in the Startup Type scroll bar
    - Click OK
  2. XP Home
    - Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
    - Click Performance and Maintenance
    - Click Administrative Tools
    - Double click Services
    - Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
    - Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
    - Click the STOP button
    - Select Disable in the Startup Type scroll bar
    - Click OK
  3. XP Professional
    - Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
    - Click Administrative Tools
    - Click Services
    - Double click Services
    - Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
    - Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
    - Click the STOP button.
    - Select Disable in the Startup Type scroll bar
    - Click OK
  4. Windows NT
    - Click Start ->Control Panel
    - Double Click Administrative Tools
    - Select Services-> Double-click on Messenger
    - In the Messenger Properties window, select Stop
    - Then choose Disable as the Startup Type
    - Click OK
    NOTE: If you stop the service and don’t adjust the startup type, the Messenger service will start automatically the next time you reboot. Keep in mind that when you disable the Messenger service, you'll no longer receive messages about an attached UPS, and you won’t be notified of print job completion, performance alerts, or antivirus activity (from Windows) not the program you're using for those purposes.
6. Example 6
  1. To disable receipt of messenger pop-ups, verify that your firewall disables inbound traffic on UDP ports 135, 137, and 138, and TCP ports 135 and 139. On a system connected directly to the Internet, you should also disable inbound traffic on TCP port 445. If the system you want to protect is part of a Win2K-based network with Active Directory (AD), don't block incoming traffic on port 445 - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 330904
    NOTE: You can use the firewall approach only if your system doesn't communicate with legacy systems that rely on NetBIOS name resolution to locate machines and shared resources. If, for example, you let users running Windows 9x share your printer or scanner, when you disable inbound NetBIOS traffic, users won't be able to connect to these shared resources. Regardless of the method you choose, you can stop messenger spam
Program
1. Example 1
  1. Shoot the Messenger
2. Example 2
  1. Messenger Disable
    NOTE: If you choose to uninstall Windows Messenger on a system with SP1 installed, you will receive an error message about "un-registering" an OCX file. This is normal, and doest not affect the removal process. Windows Messenger will still be removed
TEST
1. Example 1
  1. Right-click "My Computer"
  2. Select "Manage"
  3. Under "System Tools" right-click on "Shared Folders"
  4. Choose "All Tasks" and select "Send Console Message..."
  5. If you recieve the following error message then the service has been disabled, otherwise confirm that you have disabled it or try another example
    "The following error occured while reading the list of sessions from Windows clients:
    Error 2114: The Server service is not started."
2. Example 2
  1. Click Start then "Run"
  2. Type in {cmd.exe}
  3. Type in net send 127.0.0.1 hi
  4. If you get a popup "hi" message, then confirm that you have disabled it or try another example
IF YOU INSIST
1. If you insist on keeping Windows Messenger, then I'd recommend Messenger Manager - "Allows you to keep your messenger service running, as is intended and needed by Windows. This ensures that vital system errors and notifications may be sent informing you of Important System Events"
2. However, as a replacement to Windows Messenger remote control feature, I'd recommend this free tool Virtual Network Computing - "It is a remote control software which allows you to view and interact with one computer (the "server") using a simple program (the "viewer") on another computer anywhere on the Internet. The two computers don't even have to be the same type, so for example you can use VNC to view an office Linux machine on your Windows PC at home"

RESULTS WILL VARY
No matter how good your systems may be, they're only as effective as what you put into them.

How to Double Firefox Speed ( With High Detail.! )

Now here are some Tips&Tricks that can help you double the speed of Firefox.

1. Type about:config in the address bar and then press Enter.

2. In the filter search bar type network.http.pipelining. Be sure the value field is set true,if not double-click to set true.

HTTP is the application-layer protocol that most web pages are transferred with. In HTTP 1.1, multiple requests can be sent before any responses are received. This is known as pipelining. Pipelining reduces page loading times, but not all servers support it.

3. Go back to the filter search bar and type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests. Double-click this option and set its value to 8.

4. In the filter search bar and type network.http.proxy.pipelining. Once opened double-click on it and set it to true.

5. In IPv6-capable DNS servers, an IPv4 address may be returned when an IPv6 address is requested. It is possible for Mozilla to recover from this misinformation, but a significant delay is introduced.
Type network.dns.disableIPv6 in the filter search bar and set this option to true by double clicking on it.

6. CONTENT INTERRUPT PARSING
This preference controls if the application will interrupt parsing a page to respond to UI events. It does not exist by default.
Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu. Then:

A. Enter content.interrupt.parsing in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK

B. When prompted to choose the value for the new boolean, select true and click OK.

7. Rather than wait until a page has completely downloaded to display it to the user, Mozilla applications will regularly render what has been received to that point. This option controls the maximum amount of time the application will be unresponsive while rendering pages.

Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.

A. Enter content.max.tokenizing.time in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK

B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 2250000 and click OK.

8. CONTENT NOTIFY INTERVAL
This option sets the minimum amount of time to wait between reflows. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.

A. Type content.notify.interval in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.
B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 750000 and click OK.
9. CONTENT NOTIFY ONTIMER

A. This option sets if to reflow pages at an interval any higher than that specified by content.notify.interval. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu.

B. Type content.notify.ontimer in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK.

C. You will be prompted to choose the value for the new boolean. Select true and click OK.

10. Notify Backoffcount
This option controls the maximum number of times the content will do timer-based reflows. After this number has been reached, the page will only reflow once it is finished downloading. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.

A. Enter content.notify.backoffcount in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.

B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 5 and click OK.

11. CONTENT SWITCH THRESHOLD
You can interact with a loading page when content.interrupt.parsing is set to true. When a page is loading, the application has two modes: a high frequency interrupt mode and a low frequency interrupt mode. The first one interrupts the parser more frequently to allow for greater UI responsiveness during page load.

The low frequency interrupt mode interrupts the parser less frequently to allow for quicker page load. The application enters high frequency interrupt mode when you move the mouse or type on the keyboard and switch back to low frequency mode when you had no activity for a certain amount of time. This preference controls that amount of time. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.

A. Enter content.switch.threshold in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.

B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 750000 and click OK.

12. NGLAYOUT INITIALPAINT DELAY
Mozilla applications render web pages incrementally, they display what’s been received of a page before the entire page has been downloaded. Since the start of a web page normally doesn’t have much useful information to display, Mozilla applications will wait a short interval before first rendering a page. This preference controls that interval. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.

A. Enter nglayout.initialpaint.delay in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.

B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 0 and click OK.

Thanks

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Anti-proxy: how to detect your IP if you are using an anonymous proxy server?

As you already know, there are anonymous proxy servers that can be used for surfing the web anonymously. It is also interesting to know, is there a way of tracking down a web-surfer behind an anonymous proxy server.
Yes, there are a number of possibilities not only to detect a visitor using several anonymous proxy servers, but also to detect his real IP even if he is using an anonymous proxy server.

Cookies

At first sight, cookies are not anyhow related to proxy servers. Cookies are used to transfer small portions of information from the web server to the client as an addition to the requested web page. This additional information is stored in the client s browser and is retrieved by the web server. Cookies can be both temporary (for one-time use during a web session; when the session is over, these cookies are deleted) and long-term (for continuous store on the client s machine).
So, why do we need cookies? For example, if the password is requested while checking your e-mail box. After you have entered the password, it is stored in cookies, so each time you browse from page to page, the web server would check the password in the cookies instead of asking for it on every page.

How can a cookie help to detect a proxy? You cannot detect IP with the help of cookies. However, when you first visit a web site, the IP (i.e. your proxy server s IP) is detected by the web server and then stored in the cookies. When you re-visit this site, the web server detects your IP again and checks it with the one stored in the cookies. If the IPs are not the same, the web server can make certain conclusions. And if you don't disable cookies in your browser, no proxy will help you (anonymizers can disable cookies and stop relaying them to your machine).
JavaScript / VBScript

There are special subprograms (scripts) run by the client s browser. Therefore, no matter how hard you try to setup your browser (unless you disable these active scripts), you won't be able to hide your real IP. These scripts are actually classified as simple programs and have very limited number of functions, however they are able to detect your IP as well as many other settings of your browser. These scripts can change your browser settings too!

There is a multilevel protection from these scripts. You can restrict a script from accessing your browser features. However, the best way to protect your browser is completely disabling active scripts. You can disable scripts directly in anonymizers.
Java

Unlike JavaScript, Java is a full-featured programming language. So Java scripts have many additional abilities (particularly, detecting or changing your browser settings). In other words, Java programs can easily detect your IP and partially the settings of your browser.

As far as it goes to protecting your IP from being detected by Java scripts, all is much more complicated: the most secure and probably the only way is to completely disable Java in browser settings, as long as Java has many network functions and it's quite difficult to switch them all off.
ActiveX and plug-ins

ActiveX and plug-ins are various add-ons and modules of your browser. These modules are in fact real proper programs run on the client s machine and therefore they have wider capacities than Java and Javascript. They can easily detect your browser settings and track down your real IP address. What's more, they can even easily change your proxy server s settings!

To secure your browser and IP address, disable ActiveX and plug-ins options in your browser settings.
Armour vs. bombs

The war between those who want to stay anonymous web-surfers and those who want to know all about their clients and visitors will never end. There always will be new ways of hiding your life inside the web, likewise there always will be new technologies to hack or to pass this protection.

You can secure your IP using several methods:

1. Restrictions
* disable cookies
* disable active scripts
* disable Java
* disable ActiveX
2. Use socksification in your browser. This will enable relaying all the information your browser or any other software sends and transfers to the proxy server.

The first method of protection is very easy to pass: it only takes building a site based on Java/JavaScript/Cookies (for example, dynamic menus, etc.). In this case, if you switch off the active scripts, the site will not work (e.g. if you disable cookies, your access to web mail servers may be denied).

The second method doesn't provide a 100% guarantee that your IP address will be really protected. Here's why. There are two methods to identify your IP:

1. A Java program connects directly to the Internet (without using proxy), even if your browser is set to work via proxy. So the server gets your real IP address from this Java program.
2. Your Windows settings may be scanned for your real IP address.

So, socksification can guard you from the first method of IP tracing, but it's totally useless when dealing with the second method.
What you need to do if you wish to stay anonymous with enabled Java/JavaScript/ActiveX:

What's the core of this task and what do you need to do in order to make it work?

1. hide real external IP address in Windows settings
2. disable direct connection to the Internet (route it only via an anonymous proxy server)

There are two options to solve this problem:

1. You need to set up LAN, local IP addresses (192.168.1.x or alike). A corporate proxy server should forwards ALL requests to a free anonymous proxy server (you need to have skills and rights of a system administrator in order to do that). It's impossible to connect to the Internet bypassing a corporate proxy, as long as external IP address is not assigned to local machines. It's also impossible to scan local machine's settings: even if Java/ActiveX applets detects and gives out your local IP address (192.168.1.x) to the web server, your anonymity will remain unbroken. So, basically, you can rate this option as 100% anonymity.
2. Install Firewall on your machine and restrict all the connections to the Internet (except for the anonymous proxy server) from a browser. It's also recommended to use port mapping for this free anonymous proxy server and define the browser's proxy as 127.0.0.1 with the local port from port mapping. However, this option can be insecure, because your real external IP address can be transferred to the server (the script will scan the Windows settings and detect your real IP).

And finally: any proxy server, especially a free proxy, keeps logs (reports) with detailed information on every IP sending requests to it as well as on the time of requests. So, any person or organization authorized to access this information can always find out what places in the web you have visited and what you did there, even if you use a chaining of 10 anonymous proxy servers located in different parts of the world.

--------------------

INCREASE HARDDISK SPEED

To speed up your hard disk speed we need to configure a special buffer in the computer's memory in order to enable it to better deal with interrupts made from the disk.
This tip is only recommended if you have 256MB RAM or higher.
Follow these steps:

Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the Run command.

Expand the system.ini file window.

Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called [386enh].

Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type

Irq14=4096

Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!

Click on the File menu, then choose Save.

Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.

Done. Speed improvement will be noticed after the computer reboots.
Update: The most speed improvement is visible with IDE drives, however there are reports that this tweak also does good for SCSI disks. In any case, it won't harm your system, so why not try it yourself and let me know what you find.

--------------------

How To Get Your Yahoo Id Back If It's Been Hacked

How to get your id
back if it's been hacked.

1) You will need your b-day, zip code, alt email, secret question
that you made the id with.
(doesn't matter if it was changed)
2) Now Call (408) 349-3300 - Get to customer service.
Let them know your yahoo name was hacked or something.
Tell them your original info you used to make the id.

If you cant use long distance then email
CODE
my-login-support@yahoo-inc.com

with all your info that you can possibly send them
and wait for response then email back with info again.
3) If they say your info is wrong but you know that it is
right then argue with them and tell them to look at
the original info of the id.
4) If they still refuse then ask to speak to a supervisor.
- Because they can see more info on their computers.
5) Tell the supervisor to look at the original info on the id,
that it was made with and know some of the following.

Some tips are.

1)-know names on your friends list
2)-know email messages if any
3)-know your service provider
4)-know what Y! groups you were associated with
5)-know when id was made
6)know when name was taken or lost or whatever approximately

Just remember to be nice and let them know that you have
personal e-mail's from people that you have'nt been able to
notify that your e-mail address from yahoo has been hacked.
And that you would rather use your yahoo e-mail account
because you like it best

-------------------

Fixing The Firefox Memory Leak

n case you didn’t know Firefox has a small memory leakage problems that can cause your pc to freeze up. basically what happens is when you minimize Firefox it stops consuming memory, however when you maximize it again the memory usage will increase, sometimes even doubling. fortunately, there is a small fix that you can implement.
heres what you do:

1. Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.
Firefox will stop eating your memory.

--------------------

Stop Yahoo! From Tracking You!

As you all know, Yahoo! upgraded its features and the capacities of the mail accounts have grown to 250 MB. That's good for sure, but the "monitoring" methods that we all have been far too familiar with in the last couple of years have been renewed with this move also. Yahoo! is now keeping track of which sites its members that are getting into groups or using Yahoo! services are visiting and storing this data with a method called "Web Beacons". The aim is to give these statistics to the partner companies arranged by agreement and to improve the "advertisement guiding" function.

However, those who are bothered by this and do not want to be kept track of have still a choice. Yahoo! has hidden this option way deep inside somewhere but I'm declaring it here in case there are people who want it anyway:

1. Go to the address http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy and click the "Cookies" link under the "Special Topics" column.

2. Click the "Web Beacons" link under the "Reference Links" Column.

3. On this page, click the "click here to opt out" link toward the end of the third paragraph under the "Outside the Yahoo! Network" title.

4. After a while, a page that says you have been out of the monitoring program will load. Without doing anything, close that page or continue your usual surfing by typing another address in the address bar. (Do NOT click the "Cancel Opt-out" button, your action will be cancelled!)

5. You're done! Now Yahoo! will not record what you're doing during surfing.

You can let your friends that might be interested know about this; since no matter how "innocent" it may seem, it's still a violation of privacy.

--------------------

Make ur Internet n Bandwidth Rapid - Rapid Speeds, 100% Working Registry Tweaks

Here are Registry Tweaks and Scroll down to see Patches

1.Increase bandwidth by tweaking QoS in Windows XP Pro

The following tweak applies only to Windows XP Professional edition.

The default system behavior is that all 100% bandwidth is available, however, if there is a running application that indicates to the OS it needs to send high priority/real time data, then as long as it has the socket open, Windows XP will restrict “best effort” traffic to 80% of the bandwidth so that high priority traffic can be accommodated. Basically, applications can make this request to the operating system for QoS support using the QoS application programming interfaces (APIs) in Windows and this only applies if a specific app is requesting QoS.

If you'd like to change how much bandwidth is reserved for QoS (the default is 20% of the total bandwidth), do the following:

1. Make sure you're logged in as "Administrator" (not just any account with admin privileges).
2. Navigate to START>Run and type: gpedit.msc
3. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Network > QOS Packet Scheduler
4. In the right window, double-click the limit reservable bandwidth setting
5. On the setting tab, check the enabled setting.
6. Where it says "Bandwidth limit %", change it to read 0 (or whatever percentage you want to reserve for high priority QoS data)
7. Click OK, close gpedit.msc

Under START > My Computer > My Network Connections > View Network Connections, right-click on your connection and under Properties (where it lists your protocols), make sure QOS Packet Scheduler is enabled.

The tweak desribed below helps boost priority for DNS & hostname resolution in general. What this means is, it helps web pages load faster, and has negligible effect on downloads (not counting the couple of ms gain with the host resolution at connect-time).

Applying this tweak assumes some proficiency in editing the Windows Registry using Regedit (Start > Run > type: regedit). As always, backup your Registry before making any changes so you can revert to the previous state if you don't like the results.

2.Host Resolution Priority Tweak
host name resolution priority
Windows 2k/XP

First, open the Windows Registry using Regedit, and (after backing up) navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipServiceProvider

Note the following lines (all hex dwords):
Class = 008 (8) - indicates that TCP/IP is a name service provider, don't change.

LocalPriority = 1f3 (499) - local names cache
HostsPriority = 1f4 (500) - the HOSTS file
DnsPriority = 7d0 (2000) - DNS
NetbtPriority = 7d1 (2001) - NetBT name-resolution, including WINS

What we're aiming to do is increase the priority of the last 4 settings, while keeping their order. The valid range is from -32768 to +32767 and lower numbers mean higher priority compared to other services. What we're aiming at is lower numbers without going to extremes, something like what's shown below should work well:

Change the "Priority" lines to:
LocalPriority = 005 (5) - local names cache
HostsPriority = 006 (6) - the HOSTS file
DnsPriority = 007 (7) - DNS
NetbtPriority = 008 (8) - NetBT name-resolution, including WINS

Windows 9x/ME

The tweak is essentialy the same as in Windows 2000/XP, just the location in the Registry is slightly different. For a more detailed description see the Windows 2000/XP section above.

Open the Windows Registry using Regedit, and (after backing up) navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesVxDMSTCPServiceProvider

You should see the following settings:
Class=hex:08,00,00,00

LocalPriority=hex:f3,01,00,00
HostsPriority=hex:f4,01,00,00
DnsPriority=hex:d0,07,00,00
NetbtPriority=hex:d1,07,00,00

The "priority" lines should be changed to:
LocalPriority=hex:05,00,00,00
HostsPriority=hex:06,00,00,00
DnsPriority=hex:07,00,00,00
NetbtPriority=hex:08,00,00,00

Reboot for changes to take effect.

In addition to the tweaks already covered in Win 2k/XP Registry Tweaks and More Win 2k/XP Tweaks, the Windows XP Service Pack 2 introduces a few new issues covered in the article below. Please make sure you understand what you are doing before making any changes to your Operating System. Note the information below only applies to Windows XP Service Pack 2.

3.Remove the limit on TCP connection attempts

Windws XP SP2 introduces a few new twists to TCP/IP in order to babysit users and "reduce the threat" of worms spreading fast without control. In one such attempt, the devs seem to have limited the number of possible TCP connection attempts per second to 10 (from unlimited in SP1). This argumentative feature can possibly affect server and P2P programs that need to open many outbound connections at the same time.

Rant: The forward thinking of Microsoft developers here is that you can only infect 10 new systems per second via TCP/IP ?!?... If you also consider that each of those infected computers will infect 10 others at the same rate:
second 1: 1+10 computers
second 2: 10+10*10 computers (110 new ones)
second 3: 10+100*10 computers ( 1110 new ones)
second 4: 10+1000*10 computers (11110 new ones)
....
all the way to 10*60 + 10^60 computers in a single minute (that's a number with 60 digits, or it would far exceed Earth's population). Even if we consider that 90% of those computers are unreachable/protected, one would still reach ALL of them within a minute.

In other words, even though it is not going to stop worm spreading, it's going to delay it a few seconds, limit possible network congestion a bit, and limit the use of your PC to 10 connection attempts per second in the process ! I have no problem with the new default setting limiting outbound connection attempts. Still, users should have the option to easily disable or change this setting. I might be going out on a limb here, but ever since the introduction of Windows XP I can't help thinking that I dislike all the bult-in Windows "wisardry" in a sense that the system also limits user access. That irritating trend to ease the mental load on end users is somewhat insulting, considering that Windows is to make the more "intelligent" choice instead of the end user, as well as limit their access to tuning such settings...
End of rant.

With the new implementation, if a P2P or some other network program attempts to connect to 100 sites at once, it would only be able to connect to 10 per second, so it would take it 10 seconds to reach all 100. In addition, even though the setting was registry editable in XP SP1, it is now only possible to edit by changing it directly in the system file tcpip.sys. To make matters worse, that file is in use, so you also need to be in Safe mode in order to edit it.

You only need to worry about the number of connection attempts per second if you have noticed a slowdown in network programs requiring a number of connections opened at once. You can check if you're hitting this limit from the Event Viewer, under System - look for TCP/IP Warnings saying: "TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts". Keep in mind this is a cap only on incomplete outbound connect attempts per second, not total connections. Still, running servers and P2P programs can definitely be affected by this new limitation. Use the fix as you see fit.

To change or remove the limit, you can use the following program:

Event ID 4226 Patcher v2.11

http://www.speedguide.net/files/xp_sp2/EvI...atch211a-en.zip

- A patching program for removing or changing the limit imposed on connection attempts in SP2. The patcher has the ability to restore tcpip.sys back to the original... Still, you might want to back up tcpip.sys, use it at your own risk. The author of this patch can be reached @ http://www.lvllord.de/

4. Recommended settings for Windows 2000 / XP
Windows 2000 & XP, unlike NT supports large windows as described in RFC1323 ( the 'RcvWindow' has a maximum value of 2**30 rather than 64K), and includes some other improvements over its predecessors you can use to speed up any TCP/IP transfers. , the descriptions and other options are added to provide you with better understanding and enable you to customize your settings.

All the following entries, unless otherwise noted should be placed in the Windows 2000/XP Registry under the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters

TCPWindowSize

The value of TCP Window in the Windows 2000 Registry is DWORD, representing number of bytes, with range from 0 to 2^30. The recommended values (in red) optimize TCP for any high speed Internet connection and work best in most cases, however if you'd like to use a custom value follow these guidelines:

For best results, the TCPWindow should be a multiple of MSS (Maximum Segment Size). MSS is generally MTU - 40, where MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) is the largest packet size that can be transmitted. MTU is usually 1500 (1492 for PPPoE connections). To determine the MTU value of your ISP, check out the Advanced Registry Editing section of our site.

There are three places in the Windows 2000 Registry where you can add the TCP Window parameter.

HKLM/SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize="256960" (DWORD, number of bytes) Valid range is from MSS to 2^30. Add the value as a decimal. Note: For best results RWIN has to be a multiple of MSS lower than 65535 times a scale factor that's a power of 2, i.e. 44 x 1460 = 64240 x 2^2 = 256960. If you choose to use a RWIN lower than 65535, you can simply make it multiple of MSS and turn scaling off (Tcp1323Opts=0)

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
TcpWindowSize="256960" (DWORD, number of bytes) Valid range is from MSS to 2^30. Add the value as a decimal. TcpWindowSize can also exist under TcpipParametersInterface - if added at this location, it overrides the global setting for this particular . Note (10/20/00): Seems MS has found another bug in Windows 2000, the TCPWindowSize should be configured with the global setting (GlobalMaxTcpWindowsSize) rather than this one - Q263088

Note: For best results RWIN has to be a multiple of MSS lower than 65535 times a scale factor that's a power of 2, i.e. 44 x 1460 = 64240 x 2^2 = 256960. If you choose to use a RWIN lower than 65535, you can simply make it multiple of MSS and turn scaling off (Tcp1323Opts=0)

Tcp1323Opts

Tcp1323Opts is a necessary setting in order to enable Large TCPWindow support as described in RFC 1323. Without this parameter, the TCPWindow is limited to 64K.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
Tcp1323Opts="1" (DWORD, recommended setting is 1. The possible settings are 0 - Disable RFC 1323 options, 1 - Window scaling but no Timestamp options, 3 - Window scaling and Time stamp options.)

Note: Tcp1323Opts="3" might help in some cases where there is increased packet loss, however generally you'll achieve better throughput with Tcp1323Opts="1", since Timestamps add 12 bytes to the header of each packet.

DefaultTTL

DefaultTTL determines the time in seconds and the number of hops a packet lives. While it does not directly affect speed, a larger value increases the amount of time it takes for a packet to be considered lost, discarded and retransmitted. A value that's too small can cause packets to be unable to reach distant servers at all.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
DefaultTTL="64" (DWORD, recommended setting is 64. Other settings that are widely used are 128 and 32)

EnablePMTUDiscovery

When set to 1 (True), TCP attempts to discover MTU automatically over the path to a remote host. Setting this parameter to 0 causes MTU to default to 576 which reduces overall performance over high speed connections. Note that this setting is different than our Windows 9x recommendation.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
EnablePMTUDiscovery="1" (DWORD - boolean, valid settings are 0-->False and 1-->True. Many connections perform better with this entry at 1, however, if you prefer to set your upstream to send fixed 1500 packets, you might want to use 0 instead). When set at 1, establishing connections and initial transfer speed might slow down a bit, however you will get better throughput if somewhere in the path large packets need to be fragmented.

EnablePMTUBHDetect

Setting this parameter to 1 (True) enables "black hole" routers to be detected, however it also increases the maximum number of retransmissions for a given segment. In most cases you'd want to keep BHDetect to 0 (False).

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
EnablePMTUBHDetect="0" (DWORD - boolean, valid settings are 0-->False and 1-->True. Recommended setting is 0)

SackOpts

This parameter controls whether or not SACK (Selective Acknowledgement) support is enabled, as specified in RFC 2018. SACK is especially important for connections using large TCP Window sizes.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
SackOpts="1" (DWORD - boolean, recommended setting is 1. Possible settings are 0 - No Sack options or 1 - Sack Option enabled).

TcpMaxDupAcks

This parameter determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before "fast retransmit" is triggered to resend the segment that has been dropped in transit.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
TcpMaxDupAcks="2" (DWORD - range 1-3, recommended setting is 2).

Patches

This Includes

1. sguide_tweak_2k.zip
Description: Generic patch for Windows XP and Windows 2000 (all versions). This patch will optimize your TCP/IP Registry settings for high speed Internet connections. To install, extract the .inf file first, then double-click (or right-click on filename and choose install from the pull-down menu) and reboot for changes to take effect.

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sguide_tweak_2k.zip

2.sguide_tweak_2k_pppoe.zip

Description: Generic patch for Windows XP/2000 and DSL connections using PPPoE. This patch will optimize your TCP/IP Registry settings for high speed Internet connections. It is specifically designed for PPPoE DSL connections. To install, extract the .inf file first, then double-click (or right-click on filename and choose install from the pull-down menu) and reboot for changes to take effect.

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sguide_tweak_2k_pppoe.zip

3. winxp_dnscache.zip

Description: Patch Windows 2k/XP not to cache failed DNS entries. By default, when a DNS lookup fails (due to temporary DNS problems), Windows still caches the unsuccessful DNS query, and in turn fails to connect to a host regardless of the fact that the DNS server might be able to handle your lookup seconds later. This patch fixes the problem by configuring the DNS client to continue sending queries to an unresponsive network. To install, save to your HD, unzip the .reg file, then double-click the filename.

Web Patches - faster loading of Web Pages

The following patch increases Web page loading speed, by doubling the number of possible concurrent open connections. For example, imagine a web page has 20 images and some text - in order for your browser to get all these files, it opens 2 or 4 concurrent connections, depending on the Web server. Increasing the number of open connections allows for faster retrieving of the data. Please note that the patch sets some values outside of the HTML specs. If you decide to install it, backup your Registry first. Changes will take effect after you reboot. Download the patch appropriate for your OS:

OS: Windows 9x/ME

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sg_webtweak_9x.zip

OS: Windows 2K/XP/2k3

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sg_webtweak_2k.zip

TCP OPTIMISER

Description: The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. Just download and run, there is no installaion required. The program makes it easy to find the best MTU and RWIN values, test latency and tweak all the important broadband related registry parameters. The Optimizer can be helpful with tuning any Internet connection type, from dialup to Gigabit+

http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe