You can consider this an update to my previous post Increase Vista TCP/IP Max Connections.

There is a new and working TCP/IP Patcher Called TCP-Z by deepxw which supports Windows XP SP2 SP3/2003/2008/Vista SP1 SP2/Windows 7, All 32bit (x86) / 64bit (x64), which patches the tcpip.sys file in memory.

There’s also a Universal Tcpip.sys Patch which works on Windows XP/2003/2008/Vista/Windows 7, All SP*, All 32bit (x86) / 64bit (x64). Which patches the tcpip.sys file directly.

This neat little app renders all previous TCP/IP patches obsolete.

I have tested the Universal Tcpip.sys Patch myself on Windows 7 and it works like a charm.

For more information and to download please visit the TCP-Z site.

One of the security features (PAINS) you see in Vista 64-bit is the driver signing feature. This makes it almost impossible to replace most of the systems files with modified files. Most commonly if you want to patch your TCP/IP Max Connection Limit .

You can of course disable it by Pressing F8 during system start up and selecting Turn Off Driver Signing. But then you will have to do this on every restart. So a way around this is using ReadyDriver Plus 1.1 Which was developed by someone called Uhlik.

You can download it here.
ReadyDriver Plus 1.1

NTFS is great we all know, but there is still need for FAT formatted drives (ie: in embedded media players, cross platform compatibility). But since windows 2k/XP Microsoft introduced an limitation on FAT32 filesystem. As they say here.

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.

So the only way to format a drive larger then 32GB in FAT32 is to use third party tools like Partition Magic, Paragon Partition Manager, but these are not free, an often pretty large downloads. An freeware alternative to manage partitions would be the well knows linux app GParted, which also comes as a livecd.

But even better option is fat32format, a small DOS app that will let you format any drive in FAT32.

Usage is pretty straightforward:

Extract the contents to a drive on PC.
Click Start–>RUN and Type CMD.
Navigate to where you extracted fat32format.exe
Type fat32format.exe z: (change z: to the letter of the drive you want to format) and press enter.
Type ‘y’ (without quotes) at the prompt.
An thats it….

If you think the app was useful you can support the author by going to his homepage and donating.

This post is obsolete. You should check out the new updated post: Bypass Windows TCP/IP Limit

As you may have noticed Microsoft still limits your half-open (incomplete/syn packets) connection attempts per second that the system can make. Microsoft has done this since Windows XP Service Pack 2 to keep your computer from being used by dangerous programs such as worms that scan the internet to infect more systems and to keep your computer from being a host of a Bot that connects to IRC that accepts commands to launch Distributed Denial Of Service Attacks (DDoS) against other people and companies they do not like.

Unfortunately for us and companies, this limit effects our internet by limiting the capability of P2P (Peer 2 Peer) applications like µTorrent, BitTorrent, BitComet, Azureus, BitSpirit, eMule (eDonkey network), BearShare, Direct Connect, DC++, ApexDC++, or even P2PTV such as PPLive, PPStream, Sopcast, TVAnts, Peer to Peer, Web server, FTP, and many other applications we love to use but cannot take full advantage of. Basically, you will make uTorrent faster as well as all these other apps you need.

When the limit is hit, You will recieve a Notice in Event Viewer Saying:

EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

This means Vista Has maxed out our connect attempts.

[NEW] vistatcpipuacpatch21 EventID4226Fix for Windows Vista v2.1 for SP1 (build 18000) (32/64bit)

Installation Instructions:

Extract the archive to a directory on your computer.
Windows Vista SP1 32 bit: InstallPatch32.bat
Windows Vista SP1 64 bit: InstallPatch64.bat
Uninstallation: UndoPatch.bat

Please Note! Due to Vista SP1 restriction of using signed drivers only:
Vista SP1 (32/64) requires all drivers to be digitally signed. to bypass this limitation, we use a tool called ReadyDriver Plus v1.1. after install it will bypass the blue-screen and will boot Vista normally.

For those of you who wants to do it manually:
To use this driver you must press F8 at every Windows boot load. Then, in the boot menu, choose the option to disable driver signature. Vista will now boot successfuly.

Credit Goes to [ mydigitallife] | [ Yaronmaor]

I don’t know why the fix isn’t made available via windows update yet. This is a very wide spread problem where your VISTA machine which is using ICS. After a couple of hours vista looses conectivity. Some programs like Messenger, Skype, eMule, etc.. still work and other Systems using the shared connection also have connectivity.

SYMPTOMS

After you configure Internet Connection Sharing in Windows Vista, you may find that, although the network connection works correctly at first, the network connection stops working after one-to-two hours. For example, you may be unable to connect to the Internet, to other computers on the local area network (LAN), or to network resources on the LAN.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because of a bug in the WinSock bind() function.

RESOLUTION

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem, submit a request to Microsoft Online Customer Services to obtain the hotfix. To submit an online request to obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Website: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6294451

And ofcourse restart is Required after the installation to finish applying the HOTFIX.