To improve the throughput and transfer times when you use Dial-Up Networking, Windows 95 supports dynamic compression of information when you are connected to another computer that also understands compression — for example, a computer running Windows 95 or Windows NT.
You can choose to use either software compression (specified through the Dial-Up Server dialog box) or hardware compression. Software compression is performed by the remote access software; hardware compression is performed by the modem.
Choosing software compression specifies that your computer will try to compress information before sending it. Compression will occur only if the computer you are connecting to is using a compatible compression program.
Note
Software compression is supported only in PPP mode, not in RAS, NetWare Connect, or SLIP modes. Software compression is enabled by default in PPP mode and is preferred over hardware compression because it reduces the amount of information that needs to be transmitted to the modem.
Note The software compression option is not available when you are connecting to a Windows NT 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.1 remote access server.
Hardware compression is available on most newer modems at higher connection speeds. For example, V.42bis is an industry standard that allows modems to do data compression on all the data sent through them.
You should leave both software and hardware compression enabled unless you are certain that the server supports software compression. When you use either type of compression on data that is already compressed, you won't see any transfer time improvement. If the computer you are connecting to doesn't support compression, these settings are ignored and data is sent uncompressed over the wire.