How to setup port forwarding on your specific router/firewall:
http://www.portforward.com/

How do I upgrade the firmware on my D-Link router?

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=966


How do I configure my router to play World of Warcraft?

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=1860&question=world+of+warcraft

PSU guide for newbies

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=161496

Increasing WoW framerate and reduce lag and slow loading:

1.First off, clean out your WTF folder! If you install and uninstall a large amount of modifications to the game, then clean out your WTF folder for less loading time. (C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft) Open the WTF folder and remove everything in it. Everything!

The WTF folder stores your in game configurations and settings, and whenever you uninstall a
modification, it still stays in the WTF folder as a configuration. So clearing out the folder will free up a lot of space and reduce loading time!

2.Close all background programs and tasks while playing World of Warcraft. Ctrl+Alt+Del will open the task manager, and you can close all programs and services currently open.

3.Make sure you have the newest drivers for your audio and video cards, as well as updating your BIOS and other software. You can normally get the drivers for your audio/video cards from the website. Download other drivers for your computer from the website that makes your computer. Trust me, this will help a whole lot!

4.To increase your framerate, and reduce lag, turn your graphics settings dowwwwn! Way down. Focus more on performance than on quality. If you still experience lag, try playing the game without sound, and see if it helps at all. It normally has a large effect.

5.Avoid software that claims to free up memory, ram, space, etc. The only way to double your ram is to BUY more ram. Tigerdirect.com normally has RAM and other computer items for great deals.

6.Scan for spyware. If you browse the internet a lot, scan for spyware. You'll be amazed at how much you have. Download the free Ad-Aware Personal Edition at http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Spyware greatly effect your security and performance.

7.Scan for viruses. Download the free Avast! Antivirus program at http://www.avast.com/
Avoid Norton Antivirus at all times! All it does is give you a heightened sense of security.

8.Use Datths WTF configurations. Launch the game again, play it for a few minutes, and close it. Open up your WTF folder and open the config.wtf file in wordpad. Paste

SET hwDetect "0"
SET gxColorBits "24"
SET gxDepthBits "24"
SET gxResolution "1024x768"
SET gxMultisampleQuality "0.000000"
SET fullAlpha "1"
SET lodDist "100.000000"
SET SmallCull "0.070000"
SET DistCull "500.000000"
SET farclip "177"
SET pixelShaders "1"
SET particleDensity "1.000000"
SET unitDrawDist "300.000000"
SET movie "0"
SET movieSubtitle "1"
SET mouseSpeed "1"
SET Gamma "1.000000"
SET MusicVolume "0.5"
SET SoundVolume "0.80000001192093"
SET MasterVolume "0.90000003576279"
SET cameraPitchMoveSpeed "90"
SET cameraYawMoveSpeed "180"
SET cameraPitchSmoothSpeed "45"
SET cameraYawSmoothSpeed "180"
SET cameraDistanceLast "8.188390"
SET cameraPitchLast "26.300028"
SET cameraWaterCollision "0"
SET cameraDistanceMaxFactor "2"
SET AmbienceVolume "0.60000002384186"
SET minimapInsideZoom "0"
SET autoClearAFK "0"
SET minimapZoom "0"
SET alphaLevel "0"
SET guildMemberNotify "1"
SET gxRefresh "60"
SET SoundZoneMusicNoDelay "1"
SET cameraView "4"
SET specular "1"
SET UnitNamePlayer "0"
SET EnableErrorSpeech "0"
SET readScanning "-1"
SET scriptMemory "131072"
SET weatherDensity "0"
SET DesktopGamma "1"
SET ffxDeath "0"
SET lod "0"
SET realmList "us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com"
SET EnableMusic "0"
SET checkAddonVersion "0"
SET CombatDamage "0"
SET lastCharacterIndex "6"
SET gxFixLag "0"
SET baseMip "1"
SET M2Faster "0"
SET gxVSync "0"
SET ffxGlow "0"

into the config.wtf file to better your gameplay.

9.If you still experience problems, consider formatting your computer. System restore helps alot if there is a problem that you just can't get rid of.

10.Follow the directions on http://computeradvice.mikebinns.net/softwareStart.php for more tips to help your computer!

For now I have to go. I hope these tips helped you, and I will edit my post later with more tips. Bye.

--edit:DatTH--
Just fixed the config.wtf area. Too many extra spaces.

Very useful utilities

http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17285

I've been dealing with problems off and on for awhile now. Here are my previous two posts.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=41766377&sid=1
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=44957661&sid=1

Here are the steps I tried to resolve that you might want to try as well. They didn't resolve the problem, but they may have contributed to it ultimately working.

Update video drivers, of course. Especially if you have an ATI x800 like I do. Their most recent drivers fixed some WoW issues specifically.
Update System Drivers. You can go to your board manufacturer site for those. Blizz has a list of manufacturers you can use to find it.
Flash your BIOS. If you don't know how to do this, then it's probably best not to try without calling someone. There is a great utility called WinFlash that lets you update your BIOS without needing a boot disk or anything.

Ok, so those steps each were possibly important, but ultimately if you're reading this then you still are crashing. Now for the final step that will (hopefully) fix your problem. Here's a guide from the xtremesystems.org forum.



How to install the AMD X2 drivers, hotfix, the correct way.
Here is how to get your dual core AMD system running like it should with no hitches and stibility issues..............since the new AMD DUAL CORE OPTIMIZER came out people say you dont need the MS HOTFIX anymore, i dont know if this is true or not, but i tested these fixes with and without one another, and found they work better together, giving an increase in performance.....but thats from my personal expierience......try for yourself, i recomend installing both the MS HOTFIX and the AMD DUAL CORE OPTIMIZER, as they work good together and also give a performance increase by about 1-5%.

PLEASE BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST!!


1 - Install the amd drivers, download it from here... http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/..._13118,00.html

2 - read this website and download the hotfix....READ here http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256 ........Download here http://www.amdzone.com/files/WinXPdualcorehotfix.exe

3 - Edit your registry to enable the HOTFIX, follow these steps.
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager, point to New, and then click Key.
3. Type Throttle for the new key name.
4. Right-click Throttle, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type PerfEnablePackageIdle for the value name.
6. Right-click PerfEnablePackageIdle, and then click Modify.
7. In the Edit DWORD Value box, type 1. In the Value data box, make sure that Hexadecimal is selected, and then click OK.
8. Quit Registry Editor.

4 - Make sure your BOOT.ini has this command in it, /usepmtimer to check, right click on My Computer go to properties, click on the ADVANCE tab, then under startup and recovery click on settings, then click on EDIT....

5 - Install the NEW AMD Dual Core Optimizer.......from here..... http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

Your Boot.ini should look something like this now..............

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

(courtesy of http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81429)

Just a few tips on how I fixed my own freezing problems:

First of all, I run the game using the -opengl and used Datth's WTF settings. I noticed that the freezes were shorter and less often than before so I tried underclocking my processor and video card (I suggest using Radeonator for those who are using the Radeon video cards, as for nVidia, I have no idea). I still noticed that there were some freezes but again, less often and shorter. Finally, I tried removing my desktop background, because it takes up quite a bit of memory and noticed that the game no longer freezes on me anymore.

Hope this helps.

BIOS Settings that effect your video card: http://www.opentechsupport.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2847

corrupted graphics

low framerates

blue screen and system reboots

random freezing or crashing

Note: change your BIOS at your own risk. An incorrect setting can render your system inoperable.



Updating Chipset drivers: http://www.playtool.com/pages/chipsetdrivers/chipset.html

low framerates

slow alt-tabbing

blue screen and rebooting

random freezing or crashing

Error 132

Test your system stability: http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html

---

Q u o t e:
Multimonitor tips and tricks:
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=357

---

There is also a very good dual monitor howto guide, specifically for WoW, posted in the UI&Macros forum:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12052602&sid=1
for some unknown reason, it won't get stickied.
.

I dont know if this has already been posted, or if this is the correct place to post it. But one program i absolutely swear by that i havent seen mentioned here yet is CCleaner [www.ccleaner.com]

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :)

On some systems ive seen this program remove 2GB of crap! I run it every couple of days. It usually removes about 100 or so mb.

I have found that defragmenting your hard drive greatly decreases lag (especially in capital cities). How to defragment:
1. Go to Control Panel.
2. If Control Panel is set to classic view, change it to category view. If it is at category view, do nothing.
3. Click on Performance and Maintence->Rearrange items on your hard disk to make programs run faster.
4. Click on the "Analyze" button at the bottom of the window. This will analyze your hard drive to make sure that you need to defragment your hard drive.
5. After it analyzes and verifies that you do need to defragment, click defragment CAUTION: THIS WILL TAKE A LONG TIME! Make sure you are doing nothing before defragmenting. I suggest leaving the computer overnight to defragment.
6. After it defragments, you are done!

---

Q u o t e:
I have found that defragmenting your hard drive greatly decreases lag (especially in capital cities). How to defragment:
1. Go to Control Panel.
2. If Control Panel is set to classic view, change it to category view. If it is at category view, do nothing.
3. Click on Performance and Maintence->Rearrange items on your hard disk to make programs run faster.
4. Click on the "Analyze" button at the bottom of the window. This will analyze your hard drive to make sure that you need to defragment your hard drive.
5. After it analyzes and verifies that you do need to defragment, click defragment CAUTION: THIS WILL TAKE A LONG TIME! Make sure you are doing nothing before defragmenting. I suggest leaving the computer overnight to defragment.
6. After it defragments, you are done!

---

Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmentater -> then steps 4 through 6

That'll get you done too :)

Another tip that i found to be usefull is adjusting the Thread Priority of your WoW.exe whilst it is running.

To do this simple press Shift + CTRL + Esc under Windows 2K/XP or higher and go to the 'Processes' tab. Find WoW.exe and Right click on it. Now go to 'Set Priority' and change it to AboveNormal. By Default it is set to Normal. Thou you can try it on High i found that it didnt work so well for me on High. I wouldnt reccomend setting it to RealTime because based on what i know that is bad and it may make your computer freeze cuz its too busy doing what WoW says to do anything else basically :P

This is usefull for those of us that like to do things like run MSN, Xfire and Winamp in the background whilst we play. Thou WoW is the active application your computer still heeds the needs of the background applications to an extent. That extent is lowered by doing this :D

Enjoy - Veritâs