Slow internet access under XP

[The PIT]

I've just done a clean install of XP and the internet access is fine until you start a download and then web pages are very slow to load. I've noticed that the download is bombing along (Modem wise) without any slow down. It seems that the download is getting priorty.
This didn't happen under win2k. I'm thinking down the lines that it something to do with the packet size. BT have a variable limit and if you have a too larger size you get a lot dropped.
Anyone else got any ideas??

[Paddy]

I've never had any problems. I've always played with the QoS settings though... If you do a 'three finger salute' you can see the network utilisation if that helps?

[The PIT]

I did have that turned off. I've turned back on again. I've also found a fix on Microsoft web site about collisions on a 100mb network. So I've trying that as well.

[RichL]

There was something in XP that was supposed to keep back a bit of bandwidth for its own use (prolly communicating secret info back to Uncle Bill in Redmond ) which might be slowing things down.

Best idea : install Windows 2000.

[The PIT]

Originally posted by RichL
There was something in XP that was supposed to keep back a bit of bandwidth for its own use (prolly communicating secret info back to Uncle Bill in Redmond ) which might be slowing things down.

Best idea : install Windows 2000.

May have too as my Chess program (Fritz 7) hangs the machine on exit with ATI's control panel installed.
I can always try running it under win2k mode.

[WyWyWyWy]

I suggest you could try to ping a foreign website with different packet sizes, see if there is any packet drops.

Might relate to MTU size as well, IIRC w2k and wxp have different MTU size.

[The PIT]

Could also be BTinternet deciding that I've been using the service too much over the weekend since I was doing lots of downloads. They don't like that.
Yes I will ping and check packet loss etc at sometime.

[goldstein]

This will help increase your bandwidth for any network connection in Windows XP PRO.

Make sure your logged on as actually "Administrator". do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges. To log in as an administrator:
-click on start->logoff->logoff-in the logon screen hold Ctrl+Alt+Del.-in the user field type 'Administrator'
-in the password field type the password for the administrator (if you don't have one leave blank)-press ok.
Start - run - type gpedit.msc
Expand the "Computer configuration" branch
Expand the "Administrative templates" branch
Expand the "Network" branch
Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window
In right window double click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting
On setting tab check the "enabled" item
Where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0-- Click apply, OK, exit gpedit.msc
Go to your Network connections (start->my computer->my network connection-> view network connections). Right click on your connection, choose properties then under the General or the Networking tab (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled.
Reboot , now you are all done.
This is more of a "counter what XP does" thing. In other words, XP seems to want to reserve 20% of the bandwidth for itself even with QoS disabled. So why not use it to your advantage. To demonstrate the problem, start up a big download from a server with an FTP client. Try to find a server that doesn't max out your bandwidth. In this case you want a slow to medium speed server to demonstrate this. Let it run for a couple of minutes to get stable. The start up another download from the same server with another instance of your FTP client. You will notice that the available bandwidth is now being fought over and one of the clients download will be very slow or both will slow down when they should both be using the available bandwidth. Using this "tweak" both clients will have a fair share of the bandwidth and will not fight over the bandwidth.

[The PIT]

I did this under win2k and reckoned I noticed a differance. There seems to be two schools of thought on this. One says it doesn't make any differance and another says that it does.
Again while you're on the internet it's hard to tell as you mayybe just hitting on a good day.