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..
Great advice! I'm glad I Stumbled onto this.
If anyone has the message:
** The above autotuninglevel setting is the result of Windows Scaling heuristics
overriding any local/policy configuration on at least one profile.
It's a very simple fix.
Simply type in:
netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled
Happy browsing, everyone!
Hi friend,
Thanks for your help..now i can feel my browsing speed is much better..thanks for supporting vista users. I would like to have more vista hack supports like this. please post.
Thankyou
Hi friend,
Thanks for your help..now i can feel my browsing speed is much better..thanks for supporting vista users. I would like to have more vista hack supports like this. please post.
Thankyou
When I did this, and re-checked the status of the Auto tuning, it remained unchanged, and below the diagnostics, it read "The above autotuninglevel setting is the result of Windows scaling heuristics overriding any local policy/configuration."
What would cause this?
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!
it didn't work with me, gave me the following message:
Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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...
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.
Stumbled upon this a few minutes ago, great instructions and an even greater result. Will favorite. Thanks!
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!
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 ]=
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.

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