Hmmm... looks like I discovered the REAL reason behind our gateway slowing down.

It wasn't the old LAN card(s)! Our web server had been hacked! It seems there was TCP flooding (IRC?) when it was hacked (vulnerable php version).

No wonder the gateway would just work after a few hours of tinkering! I can now conclude that the illegal connections would stop after timing out (the gateway is brought down).

The problem is, after updating php, my php scripts wouldn't work anymore because of this error, which I've googled endlessly to no avail:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mysql_connect() in /dir/file.php on line xx

sigh...

So after finding no solution, I decided to just brew a new windows-based program that allows the user to view all bills of any customer and quickly copy to the clipboard the VAT details of a range of bills.

See my other blog for the details.