TCP-Z - The Best TCP/IP Patcher for All Windows OSes

January 04, 2009 by sharky

If µTorrent is bogging down your high-speed Internet connection - whereby web browsing becomes extremely slow or either stops altogether - symptoms point towards an unpatched TCP/IP half-open limit. Most patchers directly modify the TCPIP.SYS file, which usually results in undesirable MS security issues and/or false positives from antivirus software. TCP-Z is different, as it alters the TCP/IP limit in memory, for a safe & fast solution under any Windows OS environment (including x64 Vista and the new Windows 7). Release the power of your network; download faster, and run more Internet tasks simultaneously - all without the side-effects of other patchers.

TCP-Z Features:

We’ve come a long way from the archaic Lvllord patch. TCP-Z is more than just a patcher; it’s a network monitor utility that incorporates both soft (memory) patching of the TCPIP limit, and the option to hard patch the TCPIP.SYS file.

Safe And Easy: Modifies Tcpip.sys in memory. The changes take effect immediately; there’s no need to restart the computer.

Wide Compatibility: It searches limited offset through signature, no longer focused on the MS upgrade and update. Support for all version of Windows, which are half-open limited, including: Windows XP SP2 SP3/2003/2008/Vista SP1 SP2/Windows 7, All 32bit (x86) / 64bit (x64) versions.

On-The-Fly Monitoring: TCP-Z shows number of established connections, half-open connections and download/upload speed in real-time. Software shows the number of warnings events in per-minute statistics (before and after patch), which indicates TCP half-open connection overload.

Implementation:

Download and unzip. Latest version is TCPZ_20081229 (with mirror here). There are two ways to implement TCP-Z:

1. Run either TCPZ.EXE, or TCPZ64.EXE (depending on your OS version). Here you’ll be able to soft patch TCPIP in memory, or patch the TCPIP.SYS file. Click the ‘Patch‘ tab.

1.A. — The first section is the ability to "Patch Memory". Move the slider on the left to change the TCPIP limit to a new value.

1.B. — In the second area, "Patch File Tcpip.sys", you can permanently change the TCPIP.SYS file (this feature is disabled under MS Vista).

2. Install the TCPZ Virtual Driver: This will automate the TCP-Z service without causing security issues (since tcpip.sys is not changed). Go into the \VirtualDevice directory, and run the applicable file. The options are available in the "Device Manager". This virtual device will run automatically when Windows starts, and modify the TCP half-open limit value to 252, or as selected.

Vista x64 users: Be sure to read the "Readme.EN.txt" files in both directories. Another method of ‘hard patching’ TCPIP in Vista can be found at http://half-open.com.