One of the benefits of having a broadband Internet connection is the speed at which I can download files. However, by default, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) limits the number of simultaneous downloads to two. You can edit the registry to work around this limitation and allow as many simultaneous downloads as your connection can handle. Start regedt32 and navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings registry subkey. Select New, DWORD Value from the Edit menu, and create two new DWORD values: MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server, with a value of 0000000a (or whichever value you want); and MaxConnectionsPerServer, with a value of 0000000a (or whichever value you want). After you restart IE, you can simultaneously download as many files as you specified in the registry.
—Jayson Knight
jaypatrick@carolina.rr.com