Ask DACS
June 2008

by Jim Scheef

We welcome questions from the floor at the start of our General Meetings. In addition, members who are not able to attend the General Meeting may submit questions to askdacs@dacs.org. We will ask the question for you and post the reply in DACS.ORG. Please provide as much information as possible since we can’t probe during the session.

AskDACS was shortened this month to allow for other activities at the General Meeting.

Q – Web browsing in Firefox is slower on a Mac than on a PC on the exact same connection.

A – While some possibilities were offered at the meeting, like differences in DNS settings or some esoteric networking settings, there was nothing definitive. One possibility is that the Macintosh has an MTU setting that is substantially different from that set in the router. This setting is relatively easy to find on most routers but is hidden in the registry on a Windows PC. Basic information is available in Microsoft Knowledgebase article 314496 (tinyurl.com/6mtmgd). On a Mac, the MTU can be changed temporarily (I am told) via the command “sudo ifconfig en1 mtu 1492”. On both computers this is a “per interface” setting so it must be changed for both ethernet and wireless when a machine has both. It is not clear that this is the problem, but it could be.

Q – Updated spyware and then upgraded Norton AV. Now the computer slows to its knees when several programs are open.

A – The consensus was that the Norton update made the spyware program redundant and with two programs checking every file opened or saved, that the computer would quickly bog down. Since the newer Norton products have spyware protection, the suggestion was to disable the spyware program so that it does not run automatically when Windows starts. The spyware program can always be run manually as an additional check for any lurking malware.

Q – Wi-Fi disconnects when I unplug power to move my laptop.

A – This is likely caused by a setting in the wireless configuration that disables wireless when on batteries to maximize battery life.

Submit any question to: askdacs@dacs.org.