NetMaid.bat

What is this "netmaid.bat" thingy?

Netmaid.bat is a very simple Command Line tool that solves the issues of laggy speeds for web page loading and for buffering videos embedded in web pages.

FUN FACT: I actually wrote this simple Command Line tool solution for my own personal use and I do use it myself all the time. I figured I'd make it available for the rest of the world, too, since it has helped me out so much over the years.

How does it work?

Here's a simple breakdown of what it does:

• It cleans out/refreshes (via DNS Cache Flushing) your PC's clogged up DNS Cache.
• It restarts your PC's Network Adapter for you.

Like I said... a pretty simple little script, right?

Why is this a helpful tool?

For simplifying your life.

I personally am a strong believer in using my programming and software engineering skills to make not just my own life easier, but the lives of rest of the world's population's as well

Here's how this tool can make your life easier:

Computer users often find that web pages and online videos will suddenly start taking a long time to load over time as they use their PC to surf the web. A common cause of lag is actually a bloated DNS Cache (especially on Windows), and the solution is pretty simple - flushing the DNS Cache often speeds up page loading and video buffering.

It might be helpful, for any non-techies out there, to think of it like dumping a waste basket of (very likely to be) outdated DNS addresses that your PC saves in the DNS cache for faster page loading but the only downside to this is the PC doesn't actually clean up the outdated DNS addresses when a newer one is saved but instead just keeps the old ones and adds the newer versions of a DNS address to the list without cleaning out the old version... So, naturally this means that over time the cache gets very messy and clogged up with all the outdated DNS addresses the PC never got rid of.

As for why this tool also restarts your PC's Network Adaptor, that is just the other half of this very common Tech Support practice that this Batch Script simply automates. To put it simply, when you flush the DNS Cache it is also just good practice to reload/restart the PC's Network Adapter and it's related systems and drivers right after so it can "become aware" of the cleaned up DNS Cache. This is normally made known to a major computer system when it goes through it's start-up process. This start up process is also triggered when a system is restarted, too.

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How To Use NetMaid.bat

1. Open Command Prompt (CMD.exe) in Administrator mode. (This tool WILL NOT do anything if it is NOT run in Admin mode!)
2. Using the "cd" command, navigate to the directory path where you saved this tool on your hard drive. (See the "A Setup Suggestion" section for an alternate method.)
3. Type the command "netmaid.bat" (minus the "") and then hit the "Enter" key.
4. If you followed the instructions correctly, the script will have closed the Command Prompt window after completing. In which case, the script has run successfully and you shouldn't have any problems with loading speeds after refreshing any actively open web pages in your web browser.

NOTE: If you are still experiencing page loading and video buffering lagginess while surfing, then this is likely due to slower internet speeds. Just know that it doesn't matter if you have the fastest internet speed packages from your internet service provider. If you are either too far away for the signal to remain as strong as you're paying for as it makes its way down the internet cables to your location - hitting each of your fellow users of the same ISP as you along the way - by the time it reaches your location the signal may very well be too weak to deliver the internet speeds you're paying for. It sucks but that's how this type of hardwired internet network infrastructure works...

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A Setup Suggestion

This tool is best used from a dedicated "user bin" directory that is saved to your "path" environment variable. Doing this will allow you to skip the step of navigating to the directory path where you have your Batch Script Tools saved before you can use them. In short, with a dedicated "bin" directory saved in your "path" environment variable, you can simply open Command Prompt in Admin mode and then run the batch script immediately after it opens.

Here's how to setup a "bin" directory and add it to your "path" variable:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to "C:\Users\{Your Username}". (Replace "{Your Username}" part with the name of the folder with your username.)
2. Create a new folder named "bin" here.
3. Open the Start menu and type "Environment Variable" and hit Enter to open the menu.
4. Press the "Environment Variables" button.
5. Find and select the "Path" entry in the top area and press the "Edit" option button.
6. Go to File Explorer to copy the full path to your newly created "bin" directory you made a few steps back press "New" and paste it into the new empty entry.
7. Press the "Ok" button to save and close the edited Path entry followed the "Ok" button to save and close the Environment Variables.

With this, you now have a "user bin" folder setup.

From now on, save all utility type Batch Script and Command Line tools in this "user bin" folder to allow you to run the tool without needing to navigate to the directory where the script or tool is located in order to use them. Hopefully this was helpful for you!

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Pricing, Payments and Supporting My Projects

While I do make (most of) these custom command line tools and scripts FREE to download and use, I do appreciate any donations given via the OPTIONAL payment for these command line tools and scripts.