CFosSpeed

Last updated
cFosSpeed
Developer(s) cFos Software GmbH
Initial release7 July 2004;19 years ago (2004-07-07)
Stable release
13.00 Build 3000 / 27 February 2024;10 days ago (2024-02-27)
Operating system Windows 11 and Windows 10
Platform IA-32 and x86-64
Type Traffic shaping
License Shareware
Website www.cfos.de/en/cfosspeed/cfosspeed.htm

cFosSpeed is a traffic shaping software often bundled with MSI motherboards for the Windows operating system. The program attaches itself as a device driver to the Windows network stack where it performs packet inspection and layer-7 protocol analysis. It has been noted as causing some issues with network connections, and can be difficult to uninstall when bundled. [1]

Contents

A version of the software is bundled with some Gigabyte_Technology motherboards under the name "Gigabyte Speed" [2] and some ASRock motherboards as "XFast LAN". [3]

Operational summary

The software divides data packets into different traffic classes through filtering rules. It has been noted to cause problems with some users' internet connections. [4] Data traffic can be classified and prioritized by program name, by layer-7 protocol, by TCP or UDP port numbers, by DSCP tags as well as many other criteria.

Outgoing traffic is queued and sent out in order of priority. [5] The program uses TCP flow control to send new data only after older data has been received. Data may also be throttled by lowering the TCP window size. The software contains a packet filter firewall. [6] Users are also able to write their own traffic classifications. [7]

In recent years some driver issues have been found with cFosSpeed but they are easily fixable. [8]

Similar Products

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethernet</span> Computer networking technology

Ethernet is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1983 as IEEE 802.3. Ethernet has since been refined to support higher bit rates, a greater number of nodes, and longer link distances, but retains much backward compatibility. Over time, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies such as Token Ring, FDDI and ARCNET.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wake-on-LAN</span> Mechanism to wake up computers via a network

Wake-on-LAN is an Ethernet or Token Ring computer networking standard that allows a computer to be turned on or awakened from sleep mode by a network message.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network address translation</span> Protocol facilitating connection of one IP address space to another

Network address translation (NAT) is a method of mapping an IP address space into another by modifying network address information in the IP header of packets while they are in transit across a traffic routing device. The technique was originally used to bypass the need to assign a new address to every host when a network was moved, or when the upstream Internet service provider was replaced, but could not route the network's address space. It has become a popular and essential tool in conserving global address space in the face of IPv4 address exhaustion. One Internet-routable IP address of a NAT gateway can be used for an entire private network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network interface controller</span> Hardware component that connects a computer to a network

A network interface controller is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mini-ITX</span> 17 × 17 cm motherboard

Mini-ITX is a 170 mm × 170 mm motherboard form factor developed by VIA Technologies in 2001. Mini-ITX motherboards have been traditionally used in small-configured computer systems. Originally, Mini-ITX was a niche standard designed for fanless cooling with a low power consumption architecture, which made them useful for home theater PC systems, where fan noise can detract from the cinema experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port forwarding</span> Computer networking feature

In computer networking, port forwarding or port mapping is an application of network address translation (NAT) that redirects a communication request from one address and port number combination to another while the packets are traversing a network gateway, such as a router or firewall. This technique is most commonly used to make services on a host residing on a protected or masqueraded (internal) network available to hosts on the opposite side of the gateway, by remapping the destination IP address and port number of the communication to an internal host.

TCP offload engine (TOE) is a technology used in some network interface cards (NIC) to offload processing of the entire TCP/IP stack to the network controller. It is primarily used with high-speed network interfaces, such as gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, where processing overhead of the network stack becomes significant. TOEs are often used as a way to reduce the overhead associated with Internet Protocol (IP) storage protocols such as iSCSI and Network File System (NFS).

Throughput of a network can be measured using various tools available on different platforms. This page explains the theory behind what these tools set out to measure and the issues regarding these measurements.

In computer networks, a tunneling protocol is a communication protocol which allows for the movement of data from one network to another. It can, for example, allow private network communications to be sent across a public network, or for one network protocol to be carried over an incompatible network, through a process called encapsulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ettercap (software)</span> Network traffic analysis and interception software

Ettercap is a free and open source network security tool for man-in-the-middle attacks on a LAN. It can be used for computer network protocol analysis and security auditing. It runs on various Unix-like operating systems including Linux, Mac OS X, BSD and Solaris, and on Microsoft Windows. It is capable of intercepting traffic on a network segment, capturing passwords, and conducting active eavesdropping against a number of common protocols. Its original developers later founded Hacking Team.

In the field of computer network administration, pcap is an application programming interface (API) for capturing network traffic. While the name is an abbreviation of packet capture, that is not the API's proper name. Unix-like systems implement pcap in the libpcap library; for Windows, there is a port of libpcap named WinPcap that is no longer supported or developed, and a port named Npcap for Windows 7 and later that is still supported.

Layered Service Provider (LSP) is a deprecated feature of the Microsoft Windows Winsock 2 Service Provider Interface (SPI). A Layered Service Provider is a DLL that uses Winsock APIs to attempt to insert itself into the TCP/IP protocol stack. Once in the stack, a Layered Service Provider can intercept and modify inbound and outbound Internet traffic. It allows processing of all the TCP/IP traffic taking place between the Internet and the applications that are accessing the Internet (such as a web browser, the email client, etc.). For example, it could be used by malware to redirect web browers to rogue websites, or to block access to sites like Windows Update. Alternatively, a computer security program could scan network traffic for viruses or other threats. The Winsock Service Provider Interface (SPI) API provides a mechanism for layering providers on top of each other. Winsock LSPs are available for a range of useful purposes, including parental controls and Web content filtering. The parental controls web filter in Windows Vista is an LSP. The layering order of all providers is kept in the Winsock Catalog.

VPN-1 is a firewall and VPN product developed by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) is a set of system services in Windows Vista and later that allows Windows software to process and filter network traffic. Microsoft intended WFP for use by firewalls, antimalware software, and parental controls apps. Additionally, WFP is used to implement NAT and to store IPSec policy configuration.

In computing, Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 introduced in 2007/2008 a new networking stack named Next Generation TCP/IP stack, to improve on the previous stack in several ways. The stack includes native implementation of IPv6, as well as a complete overhaul of IPv4. The new TCP/IP stack uses a new method to store configuration settings that enables more dynamic control and does not require a computer restart after a change in settings. The new stack, implemented as a dual-stack model, depends on a strong host-model and features an infrastructure to enable more modular components that one can dynamically insert and remove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USB 3.0</span> Third major version of the Universal Serial Bus standard

Universal Serial Bus 3.0, marketed as SuperSpeed USB, is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. It was released in November 2008. The USB 3.0 specification defined a new architecture and protocol, named SuperSpeed, which included a new lane for a new signal coding scheme providing full-duplex data transfers that physically required five additional wires and pins, while preserving the USB 2.0 architecture and protocols and therefore keeping the original four pins and wires for the USB 2.0 backward-compatibility, resulting in nine wires in total and nine or ten pins at connector interfaces. The new transfer rate, marketed as SuperSpeed USB (SS), can transfer signals at up to 5 Gbit/s with nominal data rate of 500 MB/s after encoding overhead, which is about 10 times faster than High-Speed. USB 3.0 Type-A and B connectors are usually blue, to distinguish them from USB 2.0 connectors, as recommended by the specification. and by the initials SS.

The Killer NIC, from Killer Gaming, is designed to circumvent the Microsoft Windows TCP/IP stack, and handle processing on the card via a dedicated network processor. Most standard network cards are host based, and make use of the primary CPU. The manufacturer claims that the Killer NIC is capable of reducing network latency and lag. The card was first introduced in 2006.

ngrep Packet analyser

ngrep is a network packet analyzer written by Jordan Ritter. It has a command-line interface, and relies upon the pcap library and the GNU regex library.

The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is a computer networking communications protocol in the transport layer of the Internet protocol suite. Originally intended for Signaling System 7 (SS7) message transport in telecommunication, the protocol provides the message-oriented feature of the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), while ensuring reliable, in-sequence transport of messages with congestion control like the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Unlike UDP and TCP, the protocol supports multihoming and redundant paths to increase resilience and reliability.

References

  1. Loynds, Joel (5 October 2021). "cFosSpeed: How to Uninstall on Windows 11 and 10". PC Guide. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  2. "GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1150 - GA-Z87X-D3H (rev. 1.x)". Gigabyte website. Gigabyte Technology. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  3. "ASRock XFast LAN - cFos Software". cFos website. cFos Software GmbH. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  4. Loynds, Joel (5 October 2021). "cFosSpeed: How to Uninstall on Windows 11 and 10". PC Guide. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  5. Lüders, Christoph; Winkler, Martin (20 February 2008). "Tweaking TCP/IP". The H Online. Heise Media UK Ltd.
  6. "List of cFosSpeed's features". cFos website. cFos Software GmbH. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  7. "Filter language used to classify packets". cFos website. cFos Software GmbH. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  8. Gautam, Abhay (2022-08-29). "cFosSpeed Driver Windows 11: How to Fix Installation Error" . Retrieved 2023-02-06.