I've been playing with my routers URL blocking function. It does redirect the browser to a simple page with "This URL was blocked" text. It works quite well with blocking the commercial banners in the entire network. The problem is the TCP ports from the connections redirected are not closed as they would be in other case. The ports are kept open untill the time out. So, after fast oppening a few pages the amount of open ports is quite high. The IE starts acting weird in such a case. It does not download the pages completely leaving some page elements unloaded.

The conclusion is, there is some TCP open ports limit in the Windows 98. I'm curious if it is possible to increase it.

Edited July 31, 200818 yr by Sfor

The number of connections on a W98 system is 100 by default, but can be increased by changing HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP\MaxConnections.

I've added a "MaxConnections"="200" registry value in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP] registry key. And, I see a significant improvement.

Try Ad Muncher. You can use a proxy server and filter all it's connections with Ad Muncher.

Edited July 31, 200818 yr by Marius '95

I'm sure the AdMuncher is a very interesting application. Still, the router does what I want, and it protects the entire network without tweaking any internet connection settings.

The number of connections on a W98 system is 100 by default, but can be increased by changing HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP\MaxConnections.

eMule has under Win98 a [recommended] connection limit of 100 (eMule - Options - Connection - Max.connections). If you set the Max.Connections to >100, eMule produces the following warning msg:

"The number you have selected for "Max.connections" is larger than your OS supports: 100. This may cause your system to become unstable. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Do you have any experience with settings >100?

I don't use eMule much those days but I don't recall having had a problem with a setting higher than 100 (200 I believe) on Windows ME.