Chapter 3: Internet Gaming Tune-Up
Getting connected and going faster
It's one thing to connect to the Internet for Web browsing; it's another thing to play games on it. This chapter not only gives you a better understanding of how you connect to the Internet, but how it all works. Then, once everything is working right, this chapter turns it up a notch and gives you advice how to speed up your connection for playing games.
Preliminaries
Before we get into how to tune your Internet connection, let's first discuss how to connect to the Internet. "Huh?" I hear you ask. "But I'm reading this on a web page, so I'm already connected to the Internet."
Yes, you are, but do you know how you got there? Most users create their first Internet connection through an automated install program, through a service like America Online. Or, they get online via a preinstalled connection on their systems. Let's say you want to change service providers. Or something happens, your hard drive gets munged, and you reinstall Windows 98. I've discovered that many automated Internet setup programs don't do a good job of helping you set up a second time to an existing connection. So, I'm going to give you the under-the-hood method for setting up your service provider connection. Most of this assumes you're connecting from home. If you're one of those fortunate few who connect from a school campus or work setting with high speed, dedicated lines, consider yourselves lucky.
Next: Getting Connected
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