Generally the discussion about Web administration starts by listing the various security holes plaguing IIS and the negative press that the platform has garnered over the last year. After this, it invariably moves to a discussion about how NetCraft and other stats sites show Apache as the dominant server on the Web, or how a certain hugely popular site runs off Apache, or how there are so many cool modules to add to Apache.

Pointing out that scads of non-identified corporate in-house servers run IIS, or that it too is a free web server (since it comes with the operating system), or that there are in fact plenty of cool add-ons for IIS (including many that provide source code) -- all of this does little to dissuade these server chauvinists of their opinion.

Rather than whining about rude Apache administrators, however, I thought it would be a more useful response simply to write down some of ways that I've found of improving IIS. So without further delay, here are my top ten tips for making the most of your IIS web server software.