TCP/IP Patch (Read if you use P2P programs)

[Steve]

If your version of XP is fully up to date (and it should be!) then you might need this patch. If you use BitTorrent then you almost certainly will. To find out if the TCP problem affects you, go into Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Event Viewer. Click on System on the left and look through the list of events. You may see some warning related to Tcpip - if you do then you need the patch. Here's what the warnings look like: -

 

 

Grab the patch from this site: -

 

http://www.lvllord.de/?url=tools

 

Click on Downloads on the left and download either the English or German version. Run the file and a small window will appear. It will show the number of current maximum concurrent half-open connections - on an unpatched system, this figure will be 10. If so, click Y to set the figure to 50. Wait a few seconds and you'll get a message from XP saying a system file has changed - click cancel and choose not to restore the original file - it's vital you do that or the patch won't work. Once you're done, reboot your PC.

 

Without getting too technical, MS made these changes to XP in order to try and stop the spread of viruses and worms, but it can cause P2P and torrents to be slow. Run the patch every now and then, because some Windows updates will set the number of half-open connections back to 10 again and you'll need to repeat the process to set it back to 50.