In this article we talk about two mysterious settings in Windows that could have some impact on internet network speed. These are predefined configurations that limit the available bandwidth, i.e. the rate at which data travels back and forth from the computer.
The first option I'm talking about is the one that limits the bandwidth reserved by the system, so as to prevent 20% of the bandwidth from being lost because it is reserved for QoS (as we will see this statement is however incorrect).
The second option, on the other hand, is used to deactivate the Automatic window adjustment level or reception or auto-tuning which, if enabled, could slow down the speed of the internet connection.
1) Let's start with the first option on how to prevent bandwidth from being limited .
In all Windows versions from XP up to Windows 10, Windows 7 and 8, in the Professional, Enterprise and all non-Home versions, press the Windows-R key, and run the gpedit.msc command to open the Group Policy Editor locals .
From the menu on the left, go to
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> QoS Package Scheduler
On the right side, double click on Limit the bandwidth reserved and in the screen that appears, activate the option and under put 0 as the bandwidth limit.
If it remains "unconfigured" or disabled, Windows will reserve 20% bandwidth for the QoS service.
In reality, however (contrary to what blogs and incompetent sites report), this change should have a negligible impact on most computers because one hundred percent of the network's bandwidth remains available and shared by all programs, unless that it doesn't happen that a program specifically requests priority in bandwidth use.
This bandwidth that seems "reserved" is therefore always available for the PC, unless there is a special program that requires it.
Changing this option can therefore lead to a slowdown of the only program that makes this reserved bandwidth request, that is Windows Update (source Microsoft).
To change the same option in Windows Home, where gpedit.msc does not exist, you need to open the registry key editor.
Press the Windows-R keys together, run the regedit command and in the registry key editor navigate the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Psched
On the right side, set the Psched key with value 0 (if it doesn't exist, create it)
Try checking the internet speed before and after the change to see if it's actually worth the effort.
2) The second option that limits internet speed in Windows is that of self-tuning or auto-tuning .
To verify that it is active, open a Prompt Dos window.
From the Start menu, search for the Command Prompt by writing the word cmd and when found click on it with the right mouse button and run it with administrator rights.
In the DOS window, paste the following command and run it by pressing Enter :
netsh interface tcp show global
Look for the Receiving Window Auto Adjustment Level line and if it is set to " enabled ", disable it by running the following command:
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel = disabled
To reactivate it, use the command:
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel = normal
Again, try the internet speed test to see if anything improves or changes.
If you like these experiments and tricks, I refer you to other very interesting articles and all to read and try to put into practice:
- Increase the computer's network speed by changing 7 registry keys
- How to speed up the internet connection with 5 Windows tricks
- TCPOptimizer to optimize the ADSL internet connection and the TCP / IP network
