Speed up Firefox

You can use pipelining to speed up Firefox if you have a broadband conection. Instead of loading multiple things one at a time,things will be loaded on a page at once.

Here's how:

1. Enter "about:config" on the address bar.
2. Type network.http in the filter field
3. Change the following settings:

• network.http.pipelining to true
• network.http.pipelining to true
• network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to a number like 20 (will make 20 requests at once)

4. Right click anywhere in the window, select New > Integer

• preference name : nglayout.initialpaint.delay
• integer value: 0 (the time before the browser's action on the received information)

An online tool for checking bandwidth

We always use speedtest.net to check our upload and download speed. But hey, I recently discovered another online tool for checking your upstream and downstream bandwidth.

Check this site: http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/#tools

To test your broadband link characteristics, go to http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/bttest.php. You can also test BitTorrent traffic manipulation from the site. :)

A vampire or a werewolf?

A must read article if you're torn between the two: Programmer or System Administrator?

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/08/vampires-programmers-versus-werewolves-sysadmins.html

An exerpt from the article:

"Programmers are like vampires. They're frequently up all night, paler than death itself, and generally afraid of being exposed to daylight. Oh yes, and they tend think of themselves (or at least their code) as immortal."

"System Administrators are like werewolves. They may look outwardly ordinary, but are incredibly strong, mostly invulnerable to stuff that would kill regular people -- and prone to strange transformations during a moon 'outage'."

So, are you a vampire or a werewolf? ;)

Troubleshoot: Can chat but cannot browse problem

You can chat but you cannot browse? Want to blame your ISP for this? But wait, before calling your ISP and blaming them, try to investigate first. The problem is probably from your side, from the client's side.

Here's a list of possible solution for that kind of problem.

1. Check your firewall settings. Unblock ports needed for browsing, your firewall might be blocking them.


2. Ping google's ip: 209.85.175..106. If you can ping google's ip, then it's a DNS issue. If DHCP is configured, run these commands:
   

   ipconfig /release -->release the IP address for the specified adapter.
   ipconfig /renew -->renew the IP for the specified adapter.

3. A spyware is running on your computer that prohibits you from browsing. Kill it!