Getting the most of your Bandwidth in Windows XP

As a cheapskate, I make sure that I get most of what little resources I have. One example is the bandwidth of my broadband internet connection. Since I primarily use my connection to browse the internet and for some downloads, I only subscribed at my Internet Service Provider (ISP) the cheapest broadband connection they offer.

I own three computers at my house, 1 old laptop, 1 XPC (160 Watts model, so less energy consumption), and a gaming rig I just bought for my wife (who is addicted to PC games such as The Sims 2). The laptop is almost always open, acting as a torrentbox and most of the downloads (again, to get the most of what i pay for the internet connection) since it is only rated to consume 60Watts.

As I was browsing the internet, I came upon a site that discusses how to increase the download speed of your connection in Windows XP. It says that by just editing some simple settings in the so called "Group Policy Editor" you can increase your download speed by 20%. Here's how it works - By default Windows XP reserves 20% of your bandwidth for its own usage such as updates. Think about it, Windows XP updates don't occur everyday, yet on each day you use your computer, you internet connection is running at only 80% of its real speed. That's a lot by Cheapskate standards. For example, my connection is rated at 128Kbps, and that's just the rated speed, the real speed of such connection is only at 110 - 114 Kbps, but for demonstration purposes, let's just say I get that 128Kbps. To get my maximum download speed, I need to divide that number by 8, which means ideally I can download at the speed of 16Kbps. At 16Kbps speed, a 1MB download will take roughly 1 minute. But since Windows XP is "reserving" the 20% of my connection, this means i can only download at the speed of around 12.8Kbps, meaning the 1MB download will take an additional 20 seconds. Now imagine that scenario if you're going to download a 100MB file. Then, if you are subscription speed ia at, say, 512Kbps, you're wasting the same amount of bandwidth I am paying for at 128Kbps.

So, just how do you lift off this 20% bandwidth reservation by Windows XP? Just follow these simple steps:

1. Click on the Start Button, then click Run
2. Type in gpedit.msc (this is the Group Policy Editor program) and click OK
3. Click Local Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Network, QOS Packet Scheduler, Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
4. By default, the value set is "Not Configured", but this is not the case. Windows XP already limited you bandwidth by 20%. If you want proof, you can click on the Details Tab and you should see the following messages:

"Determines the percentage of connection bandwidth that the system can reserve. This value limits the combined bandwidth reservations of all programs running on the system.

By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default.

If you enable this setting, you can use the "Bandwidth limit" box to adjust the amount of bandwidth the system can reserve.

If you disable this setting or do not configure it, the system uses the default value of 20 percent of the connection.

Important: If a bandwidth limit is set for a particular network adapter in the registry, this setting is ignored when configuring that network adapter."

5. So, we need to reclaim that 20% back. Go back to the Setting Page by clicking the Setting Tab. Click on Enabled, but make sure you set the value of Bandwidth Limit to 0. Click OK. Remember, you should set it to Enabled. "Not Configured" and "Disabled" actually is the same, as explained in the details above.


There, you should see a considerable speedup when you download, specifically, 20% more speed. This trick also works on WIndows 2000. Enjoy the increase of your download speed by using this simple CHEAPSKATE TECHNIQUE.