The Network applet houses RAS setup and configuration (on the Services tab), and TCP/IP configuration (on the Protocols tab). From this applet, you manage all network protocols, services, and adapters, and the way they intermingle.
Enhancing Performance
Trimming Network Protocols
When you install NT, by default the following network protocols are also installed:
- NetBEUI
- NWLink
- TCP/IP
Even if you're part of a network, you're not going to want all these protocols, as they tend to work against one another and slow things up measurably.
Basically, if you don't have an adapter, get rid of all protocols but TPC/IP.
NetBEUI is generally used for connecting a few computers (peer-to-peer). NW Link is the IPX-compatible protocol necessary for Netware networks (plus, when that protocol's installed, "NW Link NetBios" comes along for the ride).
There are other network protocols available as well, including AppleTalk and PPTP. You add and remove protocols using the Network applet's "Protocols" tab.
You can have more than one protocol and expect reasonable performance by using the Bindings tab of the Network applet to manage which adapters are running which protocol and which protocols are supporting which services. You can disable bindings you don't need, or re-prioritize the bindings using the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons.
The more you can limit network traffic, the faster things will go. For instance, the NWLink NetBios protocol enables SAP broadcasts from NT machines. If you don't require this, you can stop the additional traffic by going to the Bindings page, selecting "NWLink NetBios," and clicking "Disable."
Network Services
As mentioned above, RAS is a network service configurable from the Services tab of the Network applet. The "defaults" include:
- Computer Browser
- Workstation
- Server
- RAS
- NetBios Interface
- RPC Configuration
And if you need Netware services, you will have installed Client Services for NetWare (CSNW), as well.
On September 14, Microsoft released another beta version of its Windows NT Services for Unix - a 4.4-MB download. |
The Browser, Workstation, and Server services all provide networking services, and can be disabled on standalones (using the Services applet in Control Panel, you can turn them off by simply setting their startup values to "manual" or "disabled").
If you're participating on a network, you still need at least the Workstation service (the client portion of a client/server connection - it allows connection to shared folders and printers on a network), but if your machine isn't acting as the server, you can disable the Server Service (which allows a machine to act as the server in a network), and Computer Browser in order to both save memory and speed up networking.
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