This month the newsletter is on line, as a PDF corresponding to the printed version.
How to speed up your interface to the Internet is
always a worthwhile endeavor.
For quite some time I had been experiencing
less-than-optimal responses from my Internet
connection. I was paying for 1.5 Mb/Second but
often had been receiving about half that. As a
result, I had been contemplating paying more to
the ISP or, if that was too expensive, transferring
to Sonic.net.
Then an online course at cnet.com (see URL below)
stated that disabling the QoS (Quality of
Service) option in XP would back off the monitoring
function of QoS thereby allowing for the
full use of the available bandwidth.
Included in the article was a timing test that,
upon repeated use, showed my receiving about
0.4 Mb/S.
Then I made a backup and stopped QoS per the
instructions below.
Upon rerunning the speed test, my speed tripled
to about 1.2 Mb/s on a consistent basis.
Microsoft doesn't agree. The second URL below
is a review of the efficacy of the QoS cessation,
but I have to believe that the proof is in the results,
which for me were dramatic.
So use the speed meter to see if you are getting
what you are paying for and act accordingly. At
worst there is no downside as there is no penalty
if the shutting down of QoS does no good.
The Instructions for disabling QoS depend on
your XP version:
If you have Windows XP Professional,
follow these instructions to disable QoS:
Click Start, then Run.
Enter gpedit.msc in the box.
Under
Local Computer Policy,
click
the plus sign next to
Computer Configuration,
then the one next to
Administrative Templates.
Click the plus sign next to
Network
and select
QoS Packet
Scheduler.
In the right-hand box, double-click on Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
On the Settings tab, choose Enabled.
In the
Bandwidth Limit %
box, set
it to 0%. (Do not leave it blank.)
Click OK.
If you have Windows XP Home Edition,
follow these instructions to disable QoS:
Click Start and then the
Settings
option.
Select the Control Panel, and open
up
Network Connections
Right-click
Local Area Connection
and choose Properties.
On the General tab, uncheck QoS.
URLs referenced above:
http://speed-up-windows-pc.classes.cnet.com/lesson-6
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316666
Diane Jennings of the Palo Alto Public Library gave a talk on Technology and the Library: Library 2.0. There is currently no podcast available. Visit the PA Library, or the Palo Alto Library web page to find out what's going on.
Submitted by Maurice Green, Recording Secretary
This online dictionary provides the usual information you'd expect from a dictionary, but it also includes some special features.
The Word Of The Day gives you just that, along with synonyms if you'd like.
The Spelling Bee section gives you a definition, and your challenge is to correctly guess and spell the word being defined. If you are correct, a score appears in the form of a percentage. Match Up challenges you to match a word in one column with its synonym in another column.
If you like keeping up on the news, In The News covers a story of recent national interest. Also included here is a Quotation Of The Day, This Day In History (with one major event of the day), Today's Birthday (a short bio of a person of note), and the Hangman game where, if you guess 10 incorrect letters, you better just hang it up.