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TweakHound - Tweaking Windows Vista, page 9
Internet & Networking Tweaks
Web Browsers
Internet Explorer 7
Put the menu bar back up top and remove the search pane. First you have to have the bar visible. Go to View > Toolbars > check Menu bar.
The 2 keys below must be added manually or via a reg file.
Put the menu bar up top:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser]
Remove the Search pane:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\InfoDelivery\Restrictions]
I've put these all in a text file for you below. It is called tweakhound_vista_ie7tweaks.txt. To make it a registry file simply rename it to a file with a .reg extension. i.e. tweakhound_vista_other.reg. Right-click on this link an click "save link as" or "save target as". Link = tweakhound_vista_ie7tweaks.txt
IE7 Tweaked
IE7Pro This FREE program that allows you to make the above 2 tweaks, has ad blocking, and much more. I use this program under both XP and Vista and I highly recommend it.
Firefox
Recommended Addons: Tweak Network - Careful with this sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. For most folks Firefox runs just fine as-is.
There are many good Addons for Firefox. Some speed things up, some add functionality, others add neat little features like weather info. I would only urge you to limit what addons you use to stuff you really want or need. Loading too many addons can hinder performance.
Disable IPV6: See the section "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)" below before you do this. Open Firefox > in the address bar type about:config > scroll down to the line: network.dns.disableIPv6 , double-click it to change its value to true.
Remove the Search pane: Open Firefox > go to View > Toolbars > Customize. click (and hold) in the search box and drag it into the Customize Toolbar box.
Network Settings
Networking in Vista is vastly improved over XP. In fact Vista actually tweaks it's own network settings on the fly! (see: TCP Receive Window Auto-Tuning, Network Diagnostics Framework in Windows Vista, Advances in Windows Vista TCP/IP) For me, my benchmarks have shown that Vista out-of-the-box is equally as fast as XP and Linux that have been tweaked. To date I've not found a single tweak for Vista that speeds up actual networking or downloading from the net. So why tweak it? The tweaks here are designed to cut down on network chatter and to secure your box (see here for an example of the chatter I'm talking about). Let me make this clear though, I've seen no network performance improvement using these tweaks and I do not believe any home users will. These settings do not cover Services, for those see the Services section of this guide.
Possible settings to disable:
Client for Microsoft Networks This IS the Workstation Service. Because of the complexity of this Service (and its dependencies) I do not disable this even on computers that aren't networked.
QOS Unneeded for the home user, (and in truth is unused in most home environments).
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks Needed if you connect to another computer or vice versa.
Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) At some point in the future all our computers will be able to take advantage of IPv6, however if you are a home user that time is not now. In other words, chances are your network and ISP don't support it so even if its is enabled you aren't using it.I hesitate to even pass that along because when/if IPv6 is available/useable to you, you are going to want to take advantage of it. Before you disable it you might want to see if in fact you can connect via IPv6. See this page for a list of IPv6 accessible sites. If you can connect to them you're in luck. More Info: IPv6.org, and Everything you need to know about IPv6 excellent article.
Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Essential
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver Basically this enables the pretty little Network Map in Vista. There are 2 problems with the Network Map. The first is that it only works from Vista so it is useless on XP machines (put they can be seen if you install the LLTD Responder for XP). The second problem is that it ain't perfect: see The Vista Network Map, Troubleshoot problems with computers not appearing on the network map. *I'm told there is an update that allows Xboxes to be seen with LLTD.
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper Responder Allows a Vista computer to be seen from another Vista computer in the Network Map.
I've divided the tweaks into 3 separate categories. Pick the category that applies to you and make your window look the same as the one in that category. Note - unchecking these items does not uninstall them, it unbinds them from that specific connection.
Access Network Connection Properties Go to Start > Control Panel (or Start > Settings > Control Panel) > Network and Internet < Network and Sharing Center > in the left pane click Manage network connections > for Local Area Connection and/or Wireless Network Connection, right-click and choose Properties. Tip - Yes, you can configure each connection differently! Tip - While your here, if you aren't going to use one of the connections, disable it (right-click > Disable). On my laptop I disable the Wireless connection while at home because I network it via Ethernet. When needed I just come back here and enable it.
Not Networked or Not Sharing
Networked, Sharing
Networked, Sharing, *No other Vista Machines (or networked Xboxes)
Other Network Tweaks
Uninstall Remote
Differential Compression Go to Start > Control
Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program > Turn Windows Features on or
off.
Disable Vista
Auto-Tuning
*These are run from the command prompt. Start > Run (or press the Windows+R keys)> type cmd, hit Enter > copy/paste command, hit Enter.
Disable:
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TweakHound - Optimize Your Computing Experience!
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