IE and connections to web

Hi everyone, on my XP laptop I found a way of adding more connections IE made to connect to the web faster. Where there was originally two I was able to alter it to 10. It does make the connection faster in XP. I was wondering if there is a way of doing the same in windows 7. Thanks everyone for any input.

Define "connection". I imagine each connection to the web would have a monthly fee associated with it. Why not just pay for more bandwidth on one connection?

Sorry I never made it to clear. In the computer regestry where there is a line to say how many connections IE makes to the web itself. The default in my XP machine is two but I downloaded the 2010 free version of AVG and it had a link to a program where it adjusted it to make the best or fastest connection available. I hope that makes a bit more sence. Sorry I have not been to clear.

By default, Windows Internet Explorer 7 and earlier versions limit the number of files that you can download at one time to two. Windows Internet Explorer 8 limits the number of files that you can download at one time to six. This change reflects the faster connection speeds that are now typical for most users. For dial-up connections, the limits from earlier versions still apply.

This article helps you increase the number of files that you can download at one time to 10.

....
Internet Explorer 8.0

How to configure the connection limit by modifying a registry key
Start Registry Editor.
Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPERSERVER
On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then add the following registry values:
Value name: iexplore.exe
Value data: 10
Base: Decimal

Note set this value to the connection limit that you want for HTTP 1.1 connections. By setting the value to 10, you increase the connection limit to 10.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPER1_0SERVER
On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then add the following registry values:
Value name: iexplore.exe
Value data: 10
Base: Decimal

Note set this value to the connection limit that you want for HTTP 1.1 connections. By setting the value to 10, you increase the connection limit to 10.
Exit Registry Editor.
How to configure the connection limit by using Group Policy
Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK.
Expand User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, expand Internet Explorer, expand Security Features, and then expand AJAX.
Set the Maximum number of connections per server (HTTP 1.0) and Maximum number of connections per server (HTTP 1.1) options to the settings that you want. You must update policies or restart the computer to apply these changes.

source

sorry for poor formatting - look at original.

1) I don't understand why there is a limit in the first place.
2) I don't understand why allowing more simultaneous downloads increases the speed.

i'm not 100% sure, but if there are 10 images on a webpage, for example, then normally ie8 will only download 6 at a time, waits for them to finish, then downloads the other 4.

if download limit is 10, it can download them all at once, with no waiting around.

i could well be wrong about this, and if so, please correct me, somebody.

this tweak used to be frowned upon as it puts more load on the server, which answers question 1.

mickey megabyte said:

...this tweak used to be frowned upon as it puts more load on the server...

Thanks! I just used the Group Policy option to increase it to 128 on both http 1.0 and 1.1. We'll see if it's any better.

Cheers mickey thats what I wanted.

happy to help :)

thanks for rep - gave me a new ego-turd