How do I change my MTU setting

[BanC]

My MTU setting is 576 and I was told to change the setting to 1500 and it would help speed my mosem up alittle. How do I change it? Please help. I have cablenut but it doesnt let you change it.........As always THANKS

I have win 98 se
56k usrobotics modem
694T Pro ATX VA motherboard

[goldfish]

Easiest way is : http://www.dslreports.com/front/drtcp.html

just find the adaptor out of the combo box, then change MaxMTU

[Iceburg]

Hey GOldfish, want to give me a little background on MTU?

-Ice

[snakefoot]

DSLReports has an explaination:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/6266

I have also tried to create my own:
http://snakefoot.fateback.com/tweak/windows/network.html#BEST_MTU

[spaz]

So... I've understood the MTU setting for a while now, but just installed a router/firewall at home and there is an option to manually set the MTU on the router. It defaults to "auto" and I've read in a few places that the magic number for routers is 800. There is a way described to have a friend ping your computer to find the optimal MTU, but it didn't work.

Anyone set their firewall MTU manually?

Thanks...

spaz

[snakefoot]

Not sure what articles you have been reading about MTU but the most common value is 1500.
The idea is to find the highest possible packet size(MTU could be called Max Packet Size) before routers starts to chop the packets into smaller packets.

If there are some parts of my guide in previous post you don't understand then please say.

[spaz]

Hi Snakefoot....

Naw, I understand that 1500 is generally condsidered the optimum setting for DSL, but I had been using a hub and not a router and when I saw the setting on the admin screen to set the MTU size for the router I thougth "oh sheesh... NOW WHAT?" So, I just browsed some articles on the web (not extensively because I SEEM to be getting identical performance as before installing the router) and read the sencence on a couple sites that "for some reason 800 seems to be the magical number for routers." I just figured there was some reason a router would prefer smaller packets than a straight up nic. My nature tends to be "it ain't broke, but it MAY be able to get better." This philosophy tends to cause me to often wonder why I "broke it."

Only thing that bugs me about using the router is that I'm wasting 4 of my static IPs... but once I get my server running I'll give it an IP of it's own again.

Oh, while on the subject.... I am using Linksys Etherfast Cable / DSL Firewall Router. It seemed to be THE one to buy which provides a firewall with more protection than just NAT. I was happy to turn the firewalls off on my pcs and let the router do the work... However, a friend at work told me that it is smart practice to leave the firewalls on the pcs as well as the router because the router tends to block line-level hacks and the standalone 'walls protect application-level hacks. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to leave the firewalls OFF my pcs and just set my router to do all the work? There are MANY settings I've left default on the router and it appears to have the capability of much more protection than I currently have it set to provide.

Thanks,

spaz

[snakefoot]

Originally posted by spaz
Oh, while on the subject.... I am using Linksys Etherfast Cable / DSL Firewall Router. It seemed to be THE one to buy which provides a firewall with more protection than just NAT. I was happy to turn the firewalls off on my pcs and let the router do the work... However, a friend at work told me that it is smart practice to leave the firewalls on the pcs as well as the router because the router tends to block line-level hacks and the standalone 'walls protect application-level hacks. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to leave the firewalls OFF my pcs and just set my router to do all the work? There are MANY settings I've left default on the router and it appears to have the capability of much more protection than I currently have it set to provide.
When behind a router with NAT then the only worry you have is that any application(also the bad ones) on you PC will be able to access the internet.

A hardware firewall can usually just block on port level, and some are able monitor to traffic, ex. whether traffic on port 80 is actually http traffic. But even you have blocked all outgoing ports except 8080, 80, 20 and 21, then any well wriitten bad-application discover which ports are open and access the Internet through the hardware firewall.

So your friend is right that if you want protection from yourself (who installs the bad applications) then a firewall on the pc itself is needed.

[spaz]

By "bad applications" you mean spyware, etc? Or one with a trojan?

[snakefoot]

Originally posted by spaz
By "bad applications" you mean spyware, etc? Or one with a trojan? Any application you don't trust or are aware of ,and that can be trojans, spyware, vira etc.

[spaz]

Right... so I'm not safe from anything I willingly install. I didn't expect any firewall to watch out for my own foolishness..heehee.

I run scans regularly, so that's not really a problem. Sounds like I'm pretty safe using just the router firewall then..

Thanks for the tips.

spaz