TweakDUN

Tired of waiting an eternity for a file to download, a web page to display, or a supposed 'real-time' video to begin playing over the Internet? In short, have you had enough of stop-and-no go traffic on the so-called 'Information SuperHighway'? If you're like most users, the biggest bottleneck by far on your computer is your 'net connection, and unfortunately you either have to be extremely lucky or have tons of dough at your disposal to do better than your everyday 33.6/56 Kbps modem. Cable modems and DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) are relatively inexpensive options, but they are still only available in a few select cities. If you happen to be in a city that supports either of these two types of connection, count your blessings and sign up as fast as you can -- you won't regret it. T1 lines and satellite connections like DirecPC are alternative options, but both are way too expensive to justify purchasing for individual or small business use. The good news is that these aren't your only options. Another inexpensive alternative that all modem users can take advantage of won't magically transform the speed of your modem connection into that of a T3 line, but it can dramatically improve your Internet performance if you're willing to spend a little 'trial-and-error' time with it. TweakDUN is an ultra-useful client that automatically changes the TCP/IP settings stored in your system registry in order to more effectively eliminate packet fragmentation and thereby increase data throughput. These TCP packet size settings were originally configured for LANs and similar networks and didn't take into account Internet connections. As a result, the default values for these settings typically hinder the performance of your 'net connection. TweakDUN will allow you to modify the Windows default settings for MaxMTU (Maximum Transmission Unit - the default packet size used by Windows and the Internet), RWIN (TCP Rcv WINdow - amount of received data that can be buffered at one time on a connection), and TTL (Time To Live - an indicator for how long a packet should be allowed to survive before it is discarded) without having to manually change the registry yourself and, even better, without having to know what any of these settings actually do. The client also offers Path MTU (PMTU) Auto Discovery for automatically determining the MTU size being used by other servers and routers, PMTU Black Hole Detect for discovering routers that do not send back ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) fragmentation-needed messages, a Session Keep Alive feature for keeping an idle net connection from being disconnected, and a MaxMTU Find utility for finding the exact MaxMTU being used by remote servers. In addition to its ability to change Windows packet size settings, TweakDUN offers a second major feature for improving Internet performance. The client will automatically import your Netscape bookmarks and Internet Explorer Favorites, convert the URL addresses to their respective numeric IP address values, and enter the values in your local host file. This enables you to skip a time-consuming step each time you connect to the sites you visit most often -- having the IP addresses in your local hosts file prevents your modem from having to contact a domain name server to get the numeric address for any given URL. The only shortcoming to this feature is that the numeric IP addresses for URLs occasionally change. TweakDUN helps you get around this problem with an update-all feature. TweakDUN works with Windows NT as well as Windows 95/98, but Microsoft has configured the Windows NT settings more efficiently than the Windows 9x releases, so you probably won't see as great an improvement when using TweakDUN with NT. TweakDUN can improve the performance of any adapter that uses TCP/IP protocol, including PCI, ISA, PCMCIA, and Dial-Up Adapters. The client configures both software and hardware adapters and is not limited to just standard analog modems -- it will also work with ISDN modems and even cable modems (for all those fortunate speed gluttons out there who think they need even more speed). The evaluation release will give you a good idea of the performance enhancements you can expect to see, but there are some restrictions in this release including the absence of the 'update all' option for the hosts feature and the inability to change the RWIN, TTL, and Session Keep Alive settings. Overall, TweakDUN makes for a must-have client if you are the least bit interested in improving the speed of your 'net connection. TweakDUN may not double your data transfer speed, but improvements in the range of 25-75% are definitely possible. And with a price tag of only $15, TweakDUN is the most-cost efficient option available for boosting your 'net speed. The bottom line -- any and all modem users should definitely take advantage of the Internet optimization features offered by TweakDUN. Pros: The most inexpensive way to dramatically improve net performance, easy to use, works with all modems Cons: Doesn't optimize settings for NT as well as it does for '95/98, doesn't update the hosts file automatically For the latest information on TweakDUN, check out: http://cws.internet.com/32crit.html#tweakdun