Increase the throughput and performance of your network card
You can reserve memory (RAM) for any given IRQ; by increasing the default value for your network card, you may be increasing its throughput and performance.
Right-click on 'My Computer' and select its Properties.
On the Device Manager tab, press the Properties button (if/when 'Computer' is selected).
Note which IRQ your network card is using.
Next, open up SYSEDIT.EXE (using the Run command in your Start Menu) and edit the SYSTEM.INI file.
Under the [386enh] section, add: IrqX=4096 (where 'X' is your network card's IRQ).
Save, reboot, and enjoy!