Whenever I have used my dial-up connection with Linux or Windows 98, its frustrates me how unresponsive connections are when compared with Win2k or XP, which generally makes the internet seem 'slower'. I know heaps of people that have said this, but I can't find an article on it anywhere on the internet.

Has anyone else experienced this, and can someone offer a technical explanation of why its a common remark that on Windows NT-based OS's, dial-up internet seems more responsive than other platforms ?

Services baby! First, you got all these internet related services chunking around in the background (update, IE, messenger, etc.), and then, you have your ISP's garbage on their too. On top of that, the MTU registers on the modem are are defaulted to midrange/non-optimized levels. So, you got all this junk going on, and the modem is limited.

Get yoruself a modem optimization utility, disable some services, and walk away from IE in favor of something lighter, like Slimbrower, Avant Browser, or something really small like K-meleon.

You're right about the MTU config, but its more technical than simply services running. I am saying that NT is better, not worse, and im not talking about just a web browser.

From what I gather, i am assuming that network support in Windows NT platforms is obviously better written than for other platforms, so thats why it seems faster.