Windows Reserving Bandwidth - Tutorial and Question

[justme]

Hey everyone, it's been a long time.

So I found this tutorial online, and I just implemented it on my Windows 8.1 Operating System to test it out.

I'll copy and paste the tutorial, which is found here: Windows Uses 20% Of Your Bandwidth Get It Back!! - Hot UK Deals

And at the end I'll ask my questions...


A nice little tweak for XP. Microsoft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes (suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)

Here's how to get it back:

Click Start-->Run-->type "gpedit.msc" without the "

This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:


Local Computer Policy-->Computer Configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Network-->QOS Packet Scheduler-->Limit Reservable Bandwidth
(dont click on the + sign on QOS packet scheduler, click on the name itself then you will see the 'Limit Reservable Bandwidth)

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab :

"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."

So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO(0).

This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.


Okay, now...

I successfully implemented this. I tested it out a little bit, and I think that my internet is a bit faster, but I can't really be sure.

My question is, is this safe? And, does it make sense to you guys that are more knowledgeable about this stuff than I am that this would work?

Thanks, and I hope you like it for those that didn't know about this... you know, in case it turns out to be true and safe...

 

[LMiller7]

The idea that Windows reserves 20% of bandwidth is a myth that has been known for a long time. But like many performance myths it continues to spread.

In reality 100% of bandwidth is available to user programs. By default a portion of bandwidth (20% by default) CAN be reserved if a QOS aware application requests it. But even then nothing is reserved unless the application is actively using it's bandwidth.

Incidentally Windows Update does not use QOS. It uses a service that operates at a lower priority than regular programs so it's impact on bandwidth should be minimal, even when it is operating.

This misguided "tweak" effectively disables QOS. The problem is that if you are using a QOS aware application it may not be able to operate properly.

See this article for more information:
Windows XP Quality of Service (QoS) enhancements and behavior

The article was written for XP but applies equally to all later operating systems.

 

[justme]

Aham, clear as rain.

Thank you LMiller7.

I actually did go to a few tutorials about this online and read the comments on those posts, hoping to find a comment that sheds some light on this. But I didn't find anything, and then I came here to share/ask about it.

Thank you