Secure IE Help Table of Contents
   Speeding up Web Page Downloading

 Using Internet Performance Settings
Secure IE speeds up web browsing because it uses more connections. (Secure IE uses up to 10 connections per server versus the normal and HTTP/1.1 compliant 2). It also optimizes your TCP/IP settings to speed up web browsing.

To change these settings, select Tools, Preferences, Internet Performance.



Step 1:
For maximum speed, move the HTTP Connections Per Server slider over to the far right.

Step 2:
Then select the TCP/IP Setting that best corresponds to your connection type. Choose Optimize for Dial-Up (56K) Connection if your internet connection is via a dial-up modem of up to 56Kbps. Or choose Optimize for Broadband (>128K) Connection if your internet connection is a high speed connection such as ISDN, DSL, Cable, T1 or a corporate LAN

 

 How Secure IE's TCP/IP Settings Work
Secure IE changes the TCP Window Size and Selective Acknowledgement settings to optimize TCP parameters in accordance with recommendations from request-for-comments (RFCs) released by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The TCP Window controls how much data can be downloaded before your computer must send an 'acknowledgement' - a small piece of information acknowledging receipt of the data. Larger windows yield better performance because less time is spent sending acknowledgements. Smaller windows yield better error recovery because the more frequent acknowledgements help identify erroneous transmissions more quickly. Each error requires retransmission of the whole TCP window.

The TCP Window Size affects transmission speeds and quality even more with asymmetric connections such as Cable, ADSL and 56K modems because asymmetric connections deliver significantly different upload and download speeds.

Selective Acknowledgements (SACK) lets your computer request retransmission of only the lost packets, instead of the whole TCP window. This provides potentially huge performance advantages, especially with a large TCP Window as only the lost bytes instead of the whole TCP Window (which may be hundreds of kilobytes) is retransmitted

Secure IE enables SACK and selects an optimal TCP Window Size based on the type of connection. These two settings can significantly speed up web page viewing.