Vista added support for IPv6, improved network protocols for faster detection and transfer. In theory these nice features should take your Internet connection to the next level! Just like before, Vista slows down everything with lots of extra overheads. In this article, I will show you how to speed up your connection by turning off those features.

Step #1 - Turn Off Unneeded Network Protocol.
Try to turn off unneeded protocol such as IPv6, Qos Packet Scheduler, File and Printer Sharing, Link-Layer Topology.

Step #2 - Use Static IP.
Try to use static IP, assign an IP to your computer, don't rely on DHCP server to assign IP for you.

Step #3 - Use OpenDNS.
Replace your ISP DNS server with OpenDNS, or any faster DNS server (You need to try them before you know).

Go to Control Panel -> Network or Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Manage Network Connections, select and highlight the connection, then right click and select properties.

Uncheck any unwanted protocol. Highlight IPv4 and select properties, set the IP address and DNS server accordingly. Use 208.67.220.220, 208.67.222.222 for OpenDNS server.

Step #4 - Increases local DNS cache.
Vista will capture every DNS records you access, by increasing the cache size will minimize the needs to query.

Go to registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Dnscache\Parameters, create or change the value below, all in hexadecimal:

CacheHashTableBucketSize = 1
CacheHashTableSize = 180
MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit = ff00
MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit = 12d

Step #5 - Turn off TCP Auto Tuning.
This might be the major reason, try to disable it or other settings. You need to manually configure TCP settings if you disable this function.

Use this command "netsh interface set global autotuning=disable" to turn off auto tuning, "netsh interface set global autotuning=normal" to turn on auto tuning. All command must run as Administrator.