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DRTCP works with Win95/98/98se/ME/2K/XP.

This is not meant to be a Tylenol inspiring, technical documentation, but merely a basic guide to understanding how you can best use this great tool (surprise at end).

DRTCP is not a patch, but a shortcut (GUI interface) into your registry. It does not enter anything by itself. You can down-load DRTCP here

TCP Receive Window: This is where you set RWIN (RcvWindow). RWIN is the single most important tweak. Raising Rwin from default (8760 for Win95/98/98SE/NT and 17520 for WinME/2K/XP), can greatly improve download speeds. Why? Here is my kindergarten analogy: Default RWIN for broadband, is like having a tiny straw in a thick milk shake, only so much can get through the straw (line), so fast. By putting a larger straw (higher RWIN) in that same thick shake, you allow more shake (data) to come through faster, to a point that is. After which, there is no more improvement, and shake (data) can start spilling all over (packet loss). So the key is, to find an RWIN that fits your line just right. This is blank before changing from default.

The formula for finding your "ideal" RWIN, is to take your latency (average ping time in ms x 1.5), multiply that by your advertised (download) speed, and divide that by 8.

Note: If setting RWIN below 8192, try using even multiples of MSS.

Windows Scaling: 65535 is the highest RWIN you can use without Windows Scaling being turned on. So simply put, Scaling is needed to enter any number higher than 65535. However, you must also have the updated vtcp.386 patch (WinME/2K/XP does not need a patch). Relax though, most users do not need to go higher than 65535. Windows Scaling "Defaults" to off (same as No).

Time Stamping: The need for this seems to be in question, at least with RWIN under 65535. If you have a line where latency varies a lot, or a "long fat pipe" (for example, pure satellite connection), then Time stamping should be beneficial, so experiment with it. Time Stamping "Defaults" to off (same as No).

Selective Acks: This improves throughput (speed) on lines that tend to lose packets, by re-transmitting only packets that were lost, if any. "Defaults" to on (same as Yes) in Win98/98SE/ME/2K/XP and is N/A in Win95/NT.

Path MTU Discovery: This automatically sets your MTU (maximum transmission unit) to what type of line you have (dial-up (576), broadband 1492-1500). This is the size of packets that you can receive. The highest MTU that one can have is 1500. For users with PPPoE connection software, 1492 and lower. Without PPPoE, it should default to 1500. "Defaults" to on (same as Yes) in Win98/98SE/ME/2K/XP/NT, and is N/A in Win95.

Black Hole Detection: This discovers routers on the WEB that cause MTU Discovery to work sub-optimally. "Defaults" to off (same as No) in Win95/98/98SE/ME/2K/XP.

Max. Duplicate ACKs: This allows for faster re-transmission of packets (information), when packet loss is encountered. "Defaults" to blank, where blank stands for 3 in Win98/98SE/ME, 2 in WinNT/2K/XP, and is N/A in Win95.

TTL: Time To Live is the amount of hops (servers) that a transmission of packets will take before all packets are lost. If you were receiving packets from 20 hops away, and TTL was set to 19 or less, all packets would be lost before they reach you. Not a speed tweak. "Defaults" to blank, where blank stands for 32 in Win95, 128 in Win98/98SE/ME/2K/XP.

Adapter settings: This is where you set your MTU. Use the drop-down menu to find your NIC (Ethernet card). If you do not know which adapter you should set, please ask. Do not set them all the same. (Note: If your MTU is 1500 by default, it will be blank in DRTCP. Also: Only physical NIC's supported for XP, no dial-up adapters.

Note: DRTCP defaults to showing the dial-up adapter. This has nothing to do with the other settings. It does not matter which adapter is visible when setting anything except MTU. Also: Upon reboot the dialup adapter will be showing, regardless of which adapters MTU was set.

ICS Settings: Internet MTU is set when Internet Connection Sharing (a Microsoft program) is enabled and being used on your PC. This is where 2 or more PCs share the same Internet connection, though only one can surf at a time. ICS MTU should match that of the PC. This is grayed out if ICS is not being used (not ready for Win2K/XP).

Also: By right clicking on the logo and choosing "About", you will find information about the version of Windows you use.

Great, so what should you set all of these to? Most users can leave all of them at Default (surprise!) except for RWIN, as this has been determined to be best, most of the time, thus being "Default". After making any changes, click Save, then Exit, then reboot (restart) your PC. Use the Tab button on your keyboard to move about DRTCP. If you do not reboot, the settings will not "take".

DRTCP recommended by Cisco
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Uninstall: Since DRTCP is a GUI interface (never mind), it is not installed. Therefore there is no uninstall. Right click on DRTCP and choose Delete, if you wish to.

To simply set your registry back to it's default settings, set everything to "Default" or blank (cleared of value), click Save, and reboot. Done.



Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
  • Hi, long-time visitor (must've been well over a decade now!) I was still using dial-up, and being blown away tinkering with the tools here, and DrTCP! I even got overly excited, when I entered a ridiculously high Receive Window, and immediately resulted in broadband speeds in my first few tests... Unfortunately, it was only those first few :P It was probably just a result of haywire results with haywire settings in a haywire test... (The value was something along the lines of 250,000+, when ~65,000 was already probably too much for what I had at the time. (but, to my credit, was a recommended value, albeit, the highest value.) Anyway, beyond my nostalgia TL;DR's, and to the point, I have a Gigabit link at the Access Point AKA my modem/router. I THINK it's also a PPPoe connection, reducing my MTU link down to 1492, which I wasn't aware of until I unraveled clues, and found Microsoft has a hidden adapter binding to my Ethernet adapter: mspppoe. Moreover, my advertised speed is 100 Megabits, and that IS the speed I get. This leads to my question towards how I should go on about configuring things, such as "Should I be trusting of ECN capabilities?", "Should I leave it up to Net Adapter "AutoNegotiation" to broadcast an accurate link speed?", then the natural follow-ups as to whether or not I should have things that count on ECN enabled or not, ie RSS and Checksum Offloads. This feedback is way too long, looking at past feedbacks, but I entered this page, unable to use the deprecated DrTCP tool, and saw the Feedback Link. Figured when/where better to address this concern that's been bothering me for a long time now. Thanks for your time and consideration. I understand if this doesn't even get saved, and gets discarded. Just a waste of my time and no one else's :P deservingly, but no harm, no foul. Thanks for all your services all these years, maintaining the old NOT-SO-SHADY website schemes that makes up the internet today. ~Kudos and Regards oh, hi google, no thanks to you for making the internet as shitty as it is today :) - Ray Bradbury

    2018-01-12 01:48:20

  • Thank you for this tool....It extremely improved my internet experience....I only wish I would have found it sooner....lol

    2012-06-20 16:34:30 (timmyh13 See Profile)

  • What is the Deal with windows 7 32\64 bit operating system tweeks? Can the system be set up, like described ,in the XP 32\64 bit version?

    2012-04-01 14:57:07

  • Win 7 is NOT mentioned. I would take this as a sign it is not supported BUT on the tweak test, Vista (which is not supported)is an option for your OS where Win7 is not even an option to designate the OS you are using. I take this as a sign therefore that ya'll haven't gotten around to taking a look at Win7 or updating.

    2011-09-05 13:34:44

  • It really works great! Thank you for this amazing tool!!!

    2011-01-16 20:35:48 (BigManJedi42 See Profile)

  • Thank you for the tool. I was able to play and see real differences. Wow. :-) Best wishes, Leonard Juska Costa Mesa, CA

    2010-01-16 13:35:19

  • Thanks-It truly works.

    2009-08-19 16:50:46

  • Excelent!! Thanks a lot !

    2009-08-07 21:59:01

  • Thank you. This tweak is amazing. I first used this 2 years ago, and have used it since on any machine I've used (XP)... Didn't work for me on VISTA (of course you already mention that). But I highly recommend this. Many thanks again. J.

    2009-06-10 03:54:13 (JaredZUSMC See Profile)



Expand got feedback?

by DrTCP See Profile edited by Pinan See Profile
last modified: 2014-09-22 15:14:27