What is TCP/IP Limit?

[MasterE92]

I'm trying to download a torrent quickly and I was wondering what the TCP/IP Limit was and if it could make my download go any faster?

Also, my global U/L and D/L is set to Unlimited. Is that bad? Is sometimes slows my internet browsing speed which is normally 7 Mbps from Roadrunner.

Edited November 15, 2009 by MasterE92 (see edit history)

[greywizard]

TCP/IP Limit refers to the maximum number of connection attempts open at any certain moment. Usually connection attempts are resolved maximum, in a matter of seconds, so the default setting doesn't bear any negative impact on your BT speeds.

For the last question read this: BitComet Speed Guide.

[kluelos]

The patch to limit half-open connections came along, thanks to a particular worm, quite a while after the support life of Win98 expired. There never was any patch to limit it for 98 because of that.

I ran Win98 well beyond that, dual-booting Win2K for a long time too. If the limit did significantly slow down bittorrent, then running under Win98 should have been notably faster than running under patched 2K. But it wasn't.

There has never been any probative evidence at all, that increasing the half-open connection limit makes a measurable difference in torrent upload or download speed. All of it has been either assumptive or subjective or both.

The purpose of the limit is to prevent your system, should it be compromised, from participating in a type of DDOS attack called a "SYN flood". If your system is generating half-open connections that fast, it's TOO fast for someone else to respond to it, which is the purpose and point of the denial-of-service attack. Thus, the imposed limit.

Mucking around in the TCPIP.SYS file is a pretty good way to do unhappy things to your system, too.