If you use Windows XP Professional then it is possible to squeeze an extra 20% out of your internet connection. By default Windows XP Pro holds back 20% of your Internet speed for various services like windows update and spyware checks.

If you want to tap into this locked speed then make the following changes:
1. Go to Start-> Run-> and type gpedit.msc
2. Expand Computer Configuration
3. Expand the Administrative Templates branch
4. Expand the Network tab
5. Highlight QoS Packet Scheduler
6. Click on Limit Reservable Bandwidth and check the enabled box
7. Then Change the Bandwidth limit % to 0 %

Once you have done this click apply and restart your PC. After rebooting you should see a noticeable improvement in your net speed.

Linux can be easily configured to share an internet connection using iptables. Al you need to two network interface cards as follows:

a) Your internal (LAN) network connected via eth0 with static ip address 192.168.1.254
b) Your external WAN) network is connected via eth1 with static ip address 192.168.2.1

Please note that interface eth1 may have public IP address or IP assigned by ISP. eth1 may be connected to a dedicated DSL / ADSL / WAN / Cable router.

Step # 1: Enable Packet Forwarding

Login as the root user. Open /etc/sysctl.conf file

# vi /etc/sysctl.conf

Add the following line to enable packet forwarding for IPv4:

net.ipv4.conf.default.forwarding=1

Save and close the file. Restart networking:

# service network restart

Step # 2: Enable IP masquerading

In Linux networking, Network Address Translation (NAT) or Network Masquerading (IP Masquerading) is a technique of transceiving network traffic through a router that involves re-writing the source and/or destination IP addresses and usually also the TCP/UDP port numbers of IP packets as they pass through. In short, IP masquerading is used to share the internet connection.

Share internet connection

To share network connection via eth1, enter the following rule at command prompt (following useful for ppp0 or dial up connection):

# service iptables stop
# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE
# service iptables save
# service iptables restart

Open your Windows / Mac / Linux computer networking GUI tool and point router IP to 192.168.1.254 (eth0 Linux IP). You also need to setup DNS IP such as 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. You should now able to ping or browse the internet:

c:> ping 202.54.1.20
c:> ping google.com