Network protocols can be a headache.

Question: Your recent column on how to speed up a connection to the Internet was a real time saver. It was the article on connecting to an ISP using Dial-up Networking. For so long I have waited and waited and waited for the modem to connect (seems like an eternity when you’re in a hurry). I made the changes you suggested and it worked well. It only takes seconds to connect now. I have a question, though. Why is NetBEUI and IPX/SPX set as default? Are they needed for anything important? –Tony

Answer: Networking has to be one of the more difficult topics in the personal computing world, so I’m glad my tips helped.

In that article, I recommended that users disable the NetBEUI and IPX/SPX protocols under Dial-Up Networking in Windows 95/98. This allows a faster connection to a user’s Internet Service Provider. But what the heck are they and why would they be there in the first place?

A network protocol is a set of rules that defines how information travels across a network (between a group of electronically linked computers). You could think of them as rules of the road. The difference between two network protocols is like comparing driving in North America where we drive on the right side of the road to Great Britain where they drive on the left side. They’re two complete different ways of defining the same process. Both guide cars from A to B without them crashing into each other.

Now consider TCP/IP. That’s the protocol behind the Internet and the one that concerns Internet surfers. (Note to acronym junkies: TCP/IP means “Transmission Control Protocol over Internet Protocol“.)

NetBEUI is the network protocol used by Microsoft network systems and IBM’s LAN Server systems. It’s a small lean network protocol that’s very fast.

IPX/SPX refers to a network protocol used by Novell products, but initially developed by XEROX Corp.

IPX means Internetwork Packet eXchange. SPX means Sequenced Packet Exchange.

The bottom line is that, if you’re just connecting to the Internet, you don’t need to bother with NetBEUI or IPX/SPX. They’re installed as default networks with Windows 95 because “anytime a network adapter is installed, Windows 95 installs Client for Netware Networks which needs IPX/SPX and Client for Microsoft Networks which will load NetBEUI,” explained Mathew Fiszer, a CyberWalker adviser, who works at Logicorp in Edmonton.

Basically, having these two extra protocols installed prepares your computer to do corporate networking if that’s required. For example, they’d be useful if you wanted to dial up your company computer and talk to its network.

If your computer doesn’t need to talk to a corporate network and the protocols are installed, then they’ll cause a delay when you go to connect to the Internet. Why? Because when you make a call with your modem, the computer first checks to see if either NetBEUI or IPX/SPX network connections can be made. This takes time. When it can’t make these connections, it then tries TCP/IP and finally — after all that waiting — a connection to the Internet is made.