It does not really make sense to keep unused network adapters enabled because of this. Most users therefor may want to consider deactivating all unused adapters in Windows to speed up the start of the operating system.

This can be done in the Windows Control Panel. Click the start button and there on Control Panel to open it. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users open Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings for this. Windows XP users click on Network and Internet Connections > Network Connections instead.

Here you see a list of all network connections currently setup on the PC.

Please note that you not only see all network adapters listed in the menu but also network connections like virtual private network connections configured on the Windows PC.

You can disable any network adapter right here. Right-click the network adapter that you want to disable and select disable from the context menu.

You should be able to identify the adapter based on its name. If you have made an error, for instance by disabling your primary network adapter used to establish an Internet connection, you can right-click again and select enable from the options to re-enable it.

Repeat the steps for every network adapter that you are not using (regularly) on your system. It may be a good idea to restart the system afterwards to see if you notice any speed improvements during system start. You may also want to run a software to record the boot time. We have reviewed our fair share in the past, you can use programs like Boot Racer, Soluto or the Windows Event Manager.

The free portable program Network Activity Indicator brings back the “two-monitor” icon in the System Tray go give the user a visual indication of computer network activity.

It will display the network activity icon in the System Tray upon startup. A right-click on the icon displays a host of options including a link to the program’s settings to change the design of the icons from XP to Vista style. The settings can also be used to change the traffic that is indicated.

The Network Activity Indicator by default will display traffic from all network adapters. This can be changed to display the traffic of only a selected adapter. It is furthermore possible to define the traffic type. Only TCP packets are indicated by default. The indicator can be switched to UDP or ICMP packets instead or a combination of the three.

The right-click menu contains links to other options as well. It is for instance possible to open network statistics, Windows Firewall Settings, Network Sharing Center and other network related settings and options.

The program uses roughly 4 Megabytes of computer memory while running which should be fairly acceptable for users who like to see the activity indicator icon in Windows 7. The program, including its source code, is available for download at the developer’s website.

The network management software Network Switcher offers a better solution to manually changing network settings. It can store multiple network profiles allowing the user to switch between network profiles easily whenever the need arises.

Each profile that is created in Network Switcher contains two network connections that contain various networking parameters including the IP address, DNS servers, the subnet mask and the default gateway. It is furthermore possible to enable the option to obtain IP addresses from DHCP servers.

Network Switcher is limited to the TCP/IP protocol and extensible through plugins. One plugin, to disable the Internet Explorer proxy, is provided by the developer of the software.

The software is Open Source and the source code is supplied with the download of the networking software.

Network Switcher requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 and is compatible with Windows XP or newer Windows operating system.

It seems that the developer has discontinued development of the software program.

The network connection data that is displayed by Connection Monitor is basic but useful for a quick overview of all network connections. The program itself lacks information that are displayed in Curr Ports, most notable the process ID and process that are using that network connection. It is therefor more difficulty to identify the running processes with Connection Monitor.

Curr Ports (and Open Ports as well) is therefor the better alternative for users who would like to identify the processes that use the open network connections. Connection Monitor is a free download at the developer’s website. No compatibility information are displayed on the website or in the application. It worked fine on a Windows XP SP3 test system.