Hack Attack : Hack Vista to Browse at High Speeds
photo credit: jpctalbot
I’m not a Windows Vista fan, but even then everyone at my home uses Windows Vista, while I dual boot with OSX on my Hackintosh.. I’ve used XP before and for some reason I always felt that Internet speeds on Vista were comparably slower than on OSX, and more so even Windows XP.
Considering it was quite slower than what I used to get on XP, I realized that Vista was doing something extra that made my internet connection slow down. After a bit of investigation and a bit of googling I found the solution.
Before I give the solution, let me explain the problem in a bit more detail… It all comes down to Vista’s “Auto Tuning” feature. Turns out that this feature isn’t compatible with many routers and networking devices(including mine). Means the feature that was supposed to be a boon turned itself into some sort of a bane.
Anyways here’s what you need to do turn off the Auto Tuning feature on Vista..
At the Start menu type command, but don’t launch the command prompt immediately. Instead, right-click it and choose Run As Administrator. Once the prompt is open enter the following command.
netsh interface tcp show global
If the line Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level does not say “disabled,” enter this command:
netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=restricted
If this doesn’t help, substitute this command and see if it works
netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled
At this moment, you should notice considerable improvements in your browsing speeds, or rather you should be cruising now. If it works, you should notice the difference in browsing speeds immediately. If it doesn’t work for you, and you feel the need to put things back the way they were, you can type this command:
netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal
Here are screenshots showing the whole process, incase you feel the need for it..
Good luck, hope this works for you.. Please let us know if this worked for you or not..
81 Comments, Comment or Ping
Umar
hey… i’ve installed osx in my desktop too…. i download the kalway osx 10.5.2 iso got it… one problem though… osx does not recognize any of my PCI cards and my inbuilt ethernet port… so i cant get internet on my PC… any suggestions??
Aug 3rd, 2008
Mike Ryan
Where is the donate button? Seriously.
This worked amazingly. I hadn’t even realised how dampened my browsing speeds were until this. My browsing speeds have been cut in half, at least.
Aug 3rd, 2008
LJXD
Thankyou so much, everything loads heaps faster now
Aug 3rd, 2008
Karthik Kastury
@Umar, this isn’t the right place to post your problems with osx86.. Please post your comment in the right thread..
@Mike, glad it worked for you great. I will be writing more and more such tips in the future.. Staty tuned, and regarding donations I guess I’ll pass.. Thank you.
@LJXD, great going. Please tell your friends about this, so that it will be of some use to them as well..
@Everyone, please stumble this article so that it helps many more people..
Aug 3rd, 2008
IanG
Excellent little Hack Attack.Worked like a treat, browsing is ten times faster now! Thank you.
Aug 3rd, 2008
Asgaro
Wow, this actually works!
Thanks!!
Aug 3rd, 2008
Relton
Hmm. Quite interesting.
Aug 3rd, 2008
Freelance Web Design
Very cool. And we thought FireFox was the only browser with tricks up it’s sleeves.
Aug 3rd, 2008
Nivco
Worked great for me!!
Thanks a lot!
Aug 4th, 2008
Thomas Beckingham
great stuff,
those that it has helped, could you please let me know which one of the two commands Karthik suggested that you used. Just out of interest =)
Aug 4th, 2008
Jack
Thankyou I have a vista laptop and a dual boot osx vista desktop…this was amazing how is this not a widely known hack? Is there any negative effects of doing this?
I chose the disabled command because I felt like it.
Aug 6th, 2008
Dave Guinan
im not sure if this has worked for me ……… i have not been on your site for a week and im a fire fox user so i used your firefox hack at the same time as doing this and my internet speeds have boosted so im buzzing im not sure if its one or the other or both but something has worked
Cheers mate
Aug 8th, 2008
Shane
This “hack” is best/only for Vista RTM, MS updated TCP/IP and networking etc in SP1… so my recommendation is try Vista SP1 (with/without the “hack” if you must) and see how you go.
http://dotnetwizard.net/?p=542
Or Google… vista sp1 autotuning=disabled
I’ll try this “hack” on my freshly built Vista Ultimate with SP1 (SP1 built in, new iso), but don’t expect much.
I still swear by “TCP Optimizer”, and the “webtweak”…
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
And they have info on disabling autotuning…
http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=247
Have fun.
Aug 8th, 2008
IanG
I thought i would give this little Hack Attack a try on Vista Server 2008,but it alreadt set at normal. Just another reasons to convert Server 2008 into a workstation.
Aug 8th, 2008
Jack
@IANG
If it is set to normal then that means that is turned on. You want it at disabled I think.
Aug 9th, 2008
Multi-Monitor Computers
Vista is a Drag. I want to like it, but it’s not much better and it’s hogs up more of the system resources. Oh well. Another Great Article!
Aug 12th, 2008
Kenneth Sim
The command prompt worked for me but I don’t really notice the difference in the speed… maybe I just don’t realise it
Aug 16th, 2008
sampat
good work, it’s really working
Aug 29th, 2008
Jon Anderson
holy shit lol this is awesome. i had no idea it was slow. i <3 you and i <3 me for stumbling upon this
Oct 2nd, 2008
Donovan
What the Hell, It works, It really does. Eureka….
When will we be able to see a “humble” Vista workin with no need to hackin’ it??
Why Microsoft do this to us? I guess it’s just we don’t read between the lines, they want us to convert to Ubuntu.
The more I use Vista the more I miss XP, I swear if it did’t have Aero…
Oct 6th, 2008
Rich
Hi
Half my browsing ground to a halt this morning. As did every other vista I know of around here.
This fixed it instantly.
Bizarre.
Cheers
Rich
Oct 22nd, 2008
Marie
Well, no luck. For either suggested command I get an error message:
Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation.
Since I have no idea what that means, guess I’ll live with the untweaked for now.
Thanks for the info though.
Oct 29th, 2008
Brian
Sweet mother of God!
seriously, thank you! this helped a lot!
Nov 24th, 2008
Kilroy
Worked perfectly, thanks!
Dec 9th, 2008
Margok
Whoa, that’s incredible!
Dec 9th, 2008
deen
this actually, actually WORKS!! i’m always suspicious whenever i stumbleupon sites which claim that downloading this, or tweaking that, or messing with this will “speed up your computer”… and i honestly don’t know why i decided to risk it this time – maybe cos you had outlined a way to change it back in case it didn’t work and maybe all the comments – but i’m so so so glad i did.
it really does bloody well work!
the difference is actually noticeable, and not just if your a tech-head, even if your just someone who surfs on and off… trust me you’ll notice the difference. sites literally just “snap” on!
well done and big thumbs up… way up!
Dec 9th, 2008
jamie
I also got
‘Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation.’
for both
Dec 9th, 2008
John
it really does seem to make an improvement. I had no idea that it was the computer, I just assumed it was my DSL connection that seemed slower. Many thanks!
Dec 9th, 2008
AMANDA
Help. When I attempted to right click on command in start I didn’t get the option to run as administrator. What now?
Dec 10th, 2008
Alfred
I used this and my download speeds remained broadly static. I guess I’m just lucky with my router?
Dec 10th, 2008
Michael
hmmm. no real difference here:
up/down on speed test:
normal = 9126/612
restricted = 9190/610
normal = 9211/612
not enough to tell if it was traffic at the time of the test or due to the settings. back to normal for me.
Dec 10th, 2008
Brian
Does absolutely nothing here.
Dec 10th, 2008
Scipio
Wow, worked wonders. My already moderately fast connection is much smoother.
Dec 10th, 2008
HalfDead
You’re my new best friend.
Dec 10th, 2008
alnphx
Thank you. It worked great for me. =)
Dec 13th, 2008
Anooz
“netsh interface tcp show global” gives this result.
TCP Global Parameters
———————————————-
Receive-Side Scaling State : enabled
Chimney Offload State : disabled
Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level : highlyrestricted
Add-On Congestion Control Provider : none
ECN Capability : disabled
RFC 1323 Timestamps : disabled
None of the other commands worked. Command says “Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation.”
??
NEED HELP!
Dec 13th, 2008
Rheves
Amazing. Thanks for this.
Dec 15th, 2008
Smith
Noice! Thats awesome man, thanks for sharing!
Dec 15th, 2008
E
but what exactly is it doing?
Dec 15th, 2008
jvslacker
hey, the command prompt froze on my screen after i did this and will not respond or close….what do i do????
Dec 15th, 2008
DarkSteele
Wow, worked great on my laptop!
(I used disabled, with restricted the effect wasn’t really noticeable to me)
Dec 19th, 2008
Deletham_Tomalak
Wow!
This worked amazingly well! Streaming and browsing speeds went through the roof!
Thanks!
Dec 21st, 2008
nils
I went to check this and found my hacked version of Vista (eXPerience’s TinyVista) already had this disable using yet another setting: highlyrestricted. It’d be interesting to see if this makes a difference opposed to restricted.
Dec 22nd, 2008
Paul
When I typed it in, I got the following message: Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation
Has anyone else had this happen. If so, what’s stopping it.
Dec 22nd, 2008
Jin
Paul – You didn’t run cmd as administrator, did you?
Dec 23rd, 2008
J-dogg
yeh paul, i got the same thing, wtf is that?
cos it would be sweet as if it worked
nice trick btw, i just wish it would work for me ]=
Dec 24th, 2008
UnknownOne
Woah
Ok a site that used to take ages to load: miniclip.com
Now..its comes up straight away…damn wierd stuff…even after clearing the priv. data etc.
Its like lightning! Great work bro!
Dec 24th, 2008
Sam
Stumbled upon this a few minutes ago, great instructions and an even greater result. Will favorite. Thanks!
Dec 27th, 2008
annon
epic win sir! thank you
Dec 29th, 2008
T
little to no difference. 200k download increase and 2kb upload increase.
Dec 31st, 2008
dave
this worked for me. instant difference in webpage loading times. thanks alot
Jan 2nd, 2009
juztbecause
Wow, would be an understatement. Thank you.
Jan 2nd, 2009
Jel
Thanks – that really worked for me. Nice one.
Jan 5th, 2009
Tokeard311
wasn’t sure about this one…. but i tired it and has worked…. thank you!
also i would like to add I like vista… as long as you have computer that can handle it. To me it is 100% better then Xp… can’t wait for windows 7 because it can only get better.
anyways thank you again.
Jan 6th, 2009
Leah
worked for me, thanks !!
Jan 6th, 2009
George
Thanks Works Great With Vista Ultimate 32 bit
Jan 18th, 2009
Zed
Wow, thanks! Amazing! You’re a GOD!
Jan 19th, 2009
pete
Sweet… thanks… this worked like a charm.. sites just pop up now. especially since my provider is puttin out 15.1mbs of internet speed to my router… sweet…
Jan 21st, 2009
Archangel
Wow! I didn’t even know vista had this crap in it! My internet is soooo much faster now!
Jan 21st, 2009
BB
For all the “require elevation” issues, this fix requires you to run the command prompt as an administrator.
Remember to right-click on Command Prompt in the Start Menu and use “Run as Administrator”.
I feel that this wont increase download speeds either. So bandwidth tests won’t show the difference.
It seems to be more of a connection orientated fix, so a webpage with multiple objects and multiple connections will initiate the downloads quicker.
A single download stream will initiate quicker, but as its only one stream and long running it won’t be noticeable.
Jan 21st, 2009
azifeyekare
great tip!
Jan 21st, 2009
Rick
Amazing thankyou very much
Jan 26th, 2009
ashke
Unreal that a hack actually does what it’s supposed to do. Thank you so much for writing this and thanks to whomever stumbled it.
Jan 27th, 2009
Chloé
Thanks for the tip, but how exactly do you right-click on the command prompt? The mouse is not working in that menu. Am I doing something wrong?
Jan 29th, 2009
Chloé
Oops nevermind, I found it. Awaiting results, thanks again
Jan 29th, 2009
Lou
Excellent! Works for me. Thanks for sharing.
Feb 6th, 2009
Zeno
nice man, good job on this.
Feb 6th, 2009
Fidel
My Acer PC was already set to disable autotuning, stock.
Feb 8th, 2009
chiro
Ok, I may be the only person who had this problem after this hack but I figure I should write about it anyway.
I am running a Vista 64Bit Vista Premium and shortly after I applied this hack, the computer simply froze. I did a virus scan and all the things we’re supposed to do but I came up with no results.
Vista went through its restore process and the everything seemed fine except for the last line that read ‘Auto Tuning Error In System Area’.
My system works fine now, but it gave me a headache beyond belief. I am not certain that this hack is the reason why it went crazy, but I didn’t make any changes other than this one.
With that said, I blame myself for doing something I didn’t need. I have 8 gigs of ram on this machine but for some idiotic reason, I thought I could totally have my browser speed be better.
Lesson learned.
PS. I am not trying to diss this hack in any way, but from what I gathered, Vista is still fragile and new to be tampered with.
Feb 8th, 2009
Marcus Mangelsdorf
It worked for me, but the other way ’round:
Autotuning was set to “highlyrestricted” by default and turning it restricted or disabling it, didn’t show any effect – but setting it to normal really increased my browsing speed.
Anyway – Thanks for the great hint!!!
Greetings from Germany
Marcus
Feb 16th, 2009
Anonymoist
To the people having trouble with “Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation”, elevation = Administrator (i.e. the UAC dialog prompt for elevation). In other words, you didn’t follow the directions. Left-click the Start menu, locate the Command Prompt (typically in the Accessories menu) and, while hovering over the Command Prompt, right-click. There should be an option to run that application as Administrator. You will be prompted to elevate the program prior to running it. Then try the ‘netsh’ commands again.
Feb 17th, 2009
Ronald Baro
Greetings!!! I like this!! it worked!! I would like to have more of this as I would like to have more control over the Command line commands in Vista or any OS. I’m not only looking for stuff like this but i’m also looking for faster boot up speeds., so if you all can give me that? and accelerator speeds? then please Keep these tips comming. I would also like to change the Command line lettering to green. Can you tell me how to do that? Thanks.
Mar 27th, 2009
Ronald Baro
Greetings again,
Can anyone tell me how to set my computer to IPv6 as opposed to IPv4? please help. I want to really tweak my computer.
Thanks much.
Mar 27th, 2009
JustJayneDoe
Woohoo!! I feel all ‘techy’….a definite 1st.
For those of you who are as computer illiterate as myself, give it a go. Mine seemed to work after using the 2nd option. I didn’t see any improvement with the ‘restricted’ option but I can see the results now…I’m impressed.
And to the lovely author-I send many thanks for sharing your knowledge, it is appreciated.
J.J.D.
x
Mar 29th, 2009
Joe
Dude, i dont ever really do these ‘hacks’ i always see. but this looked legit, so i tried it….
I also never take the time to leave comments, but damn. I had no idea it was taking that long to load. poor Stumble Upon servers going to be hurting now i cruising this quick through pages
Mar 31st, 2009
Jad
it didn’t work with me, gave me the following message:
Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation.
Apr 5th, 2009
Amit
I am using windows vista Ultimate SP1, this hack works like a charm. Thanks for the share!!!
May 1st, 2009
arby
Damn, I tried giving this a stumble thumbs up but the stumble server is down, ATM =/
May 4th, 2009
Stella
Amazing! I had screwed up my computer so bad that it was like typing into a vat of syrup, but this helped it move so much faster! Thanks!
Jun 13th, 2009
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