Auldfart's How To Guides   Modem Tweaks A Few Basic Tweaks               Here are a few basic modem tweaks that may or may not give you a minor speed increase. For serious speed increases, we recommend professionally engineered software solutions.            Remember... there are many PC system configurations, etc., so of course we can NOT guarantee the modem tweaks below will work for everyone. You will be continuing at your own risk as this information is for your consideration only and is NOT guaranteed to be accurate. Most of these tweaks require you to open the Control Panel - so open it and keep it open.               If you don't know how to open your Control Panel - please go to your Windows Help (Click Start button) or manual and learn more about your computer before continuing.  Or consider using an accelerator that will safely boost your speed FAR beyond what simple modem tweaks can do. Communications Port In the Control Panel, click on System and select Device Manager.              Open up Ports [COM & LPT] and select the port your modem is on (COM2 on our system) by highlighting it and clicking Properties near the bottom. Now click Port Settings and move on to the next paragraph. NOTE - if your modem is not listed on one of these ports, please move to step 6. Bits Per Second Settings           We need to change these settings because your modem speed is usually optimally set up for 115000 bits per second. So if this port is set at 9600 bps (the default), you're losing valuable Internet speed.           Change the Bits per second to at least 115000 for 56k modems. You may be able to set it higher, but if you experience problems, just drop it back to 115000. If you have a 28k modem, you should set the BPS to 57600. Now keep everything open and move on to the next paragraph.  Flow Control           The flow control (near bottom) is usually set by default to Xon/Xoff which is the software control. Change this to Hardware to receive the full benefit of your modem. Now click the Advanced button and move to the next paragraph.  Receive-Transmit Buffers The default value usually has the Receive Buffer at the 2/3 mark.           Slide the Receive Buffer fully to the right (High) to match the Transmit Buffer which should already be fully to the right. This should increase performance but if you do experience problems, simply return it to the previous value.  We're done with the Communications Port, so set all the values by click OK in all the open boxes - but keep your Control Panel open.  Modem Settings                 From your Control Panel window, click and open modems. Highlight your modem (already done if there's only one to choose) and click on Properties (NOT Dialing Properties). You should be in the General tab.                       If you are annoyed by that annoying dialup sound, here's your chance to silence it. Simply move the Speaker volume slider all the way to the left. If you do experience problems, simply return here and put it back up and accept my condolences.               Also, some people like to hear the modem dialling in when tweaking to hear if the dialling is successful. It's best to change this after you are comfortable that your modem is functioning properly.                 Now make sure the Maximum speed is set to 115000 if you have a 56k modem. If you have a 28k modem, you need to be at 57600. Now make sure the Only connect at this speed box is NOT checked.            Now click on Connection tab. Data bits should be set to 8, Parity to none, and Stop bits to 1. Then click on Port Settings and move the Receive Buffer slider all the way to the right (High). Now click OK to close the Port Settings and then click Advanced and continue to the next paragraph.  Advanced Connection Settings See if you have the optimal settings and correct as needed. Use error control should be CHECKED. Required to connect should be UNCHECKED. Compress data should be CHECKED. Use flow control should be CHECKED. Hardware [RTS/CTS] should be CHECKED (actually a dot). Software [XON/XOFF] is therefore blanked. Modulation type should be set to Standard. (If option available) What about the Extra settings you say? This is for an initialization string that you can add. I never experienced any performance boost with the init string. What it did do was take control of my modems sound setting so I couldn't turn the sound off. I removed it to get relief from the annoying dialup noise. If you're still interested, you'll need the make and model of your modem before you run to Google to search for your init string. The Unforgiving Registry There are many more tweaks that require some knowledge of your registry. It is far beyond the scope of this simple modem tweak page to dig into the inner workings of the registry. We may get in and never get out :-) All of these very sensitive registry settings are very important for optimization. However, due to the great potential for disaster, we highly recommend you do not try to edit your registry.  Just changing one value incorrectly within the registry, can cause your computer to behave miserably.  In some cases, the PC will no longer reboot.        A much better option is accelerator software solutions which automatically perform registry tweaking among its long list of optimizing routines.   Cable Modem Tweaks  TCP RWIN Setting The TCP RWIN registry setting controls the receive window size which will impact your cable modem speed.             Generally speaking, the TCP RWIN setting controls how large a window is set to pick up transmitted packets. These data packets need to have delivery confirmed before more data is sent.           Therefore if the window is too small, there will be a delay if the new incoming packets have to wait for their predecessors to be confirmed delivered. A larger receive window allows a continuous flow of data packets.       It's a sensitive adjustment because an oversized receive window may result in reloading of unnecessary data packets when there is a transmission error.             So the TCP RWIN setting needs to be large enough to allow continuous data flow, but not overly large to hinder performance with the transmission errors that constantly occur. That basically describes it, I might not have it technically perfect, but you should at least get the general scope of what we're dealing with. Backup Your Registry As far as we know, this cable tweak will only work with the following - Windows 95/98/ME.                 You should always backup your registry before attempting any kind of registry manipulation. If you are unsure how to do this, you really shouldn't be attempting this registry tweak.               It is beyond the scope of this simple cable modem tweak page to provide a complete tutorial on registry editing. Perhaps in the future we will but until then please do some research on editing and backing up your registry before proceeding. Start Your Registry Editor To start the registry editor (REGEDIT), which should already be on your system, simply click Start, then click Run. Type in REGEDIT and click OK. This should popup the registry editor.  Please note, if you are more familiar with another editor such as Norton's Registry Editor, simply use the one you're most comfortable with. Finding the Proper Registry Folder In your left window pane, you'll need to open the following folders by clicking on them... HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System CurrentControlSet Services VxD MSTCP Changing the RWIN Value Make sure the MSTCP folder is highlighted so as to display the key values in the right panel. Double-click to open the DefaultRcvWindow key. Now the moment of truth, the value to put here is the subject of much debate... some suggest a value between 32120 to 32760.          Some believe it should be set much higher. You could start with 32120 and if there's no speed increase, just experiment a little until you zero in on the optimal setting. After typing in the new value, simply click OK.       BUT don't close the editor, there's one more key you may wish to change in this folder. Some believe setting the DefaultTTL key to 128 may help performance. Others prefer 64. Since this folder is open, you could try to adjusting this setting to 128 now. Now try out the new settings but please bookmark this page just in case you want to return to redo or undo a step. Please don't expect miraculous speed increases with cable tweaks, you'll probably need to download an accelerator to experience a much more substantial Internet boost with high speed connections.