 PERFORMANCE
TIPS
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Tips Main
Page
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Cleaning the TEMP Directory
Increasing Memory
Get a Faster Hard Drive
Defrag the Hard Drive
File System Settings
No New Floppy Detect
Increasing Disk Performance
DMA
CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT Files
Removing Unnecessary Programs from Starting Automatically
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| Cleaning
the TEMP Directory |
One
thing that is often overlooked, and can have a negative affect on your
computer's performance,
are all the files that are in the TEMP directory. I've had quite a few
people ready to get new computers until this was cleaned.
These
are easy to clean and slightly different in Win9x and Windows2000 or
WindowsXP
Windows98
Open
up a DOS prompt
CD
\windows\temp (make sure you are in that directory before running the
next line.
Run
deltree /y *.*
CD
\windows
Run
del *.tmp (be very careful of the spelling)
Windows2000
/ WindowsXP
Go
to C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Local Settings\Temp (where User_Name
is replaced by the person who is logged in)
Delete
all the files Go
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Increasing Memory |
If
you have Windows95 with only 16-32 megs of memory, you will see a significant
increase in performance if you go to at least 64 megs.
Prices have gone down dramatically in the past few years. Your computer
won't be swapping to the hard drive nearly as much.
You
also need to be aware of the memory requirements of the applications
you are using. Office2000 requires a lot more memory than Office97 to
get similar performance.
Also,
the maximum useful memory for Windows95 is 64 megs. It doesn't do well
with memory over that and may actually reduce your performance. Windows98
has removed that bottleneck. .
For
Windows2000 I recommend at least 256 megs of memory. I tried it with
only 128 megs and noticed quite a difference between Win98 and Windows2000.
I currently have 384 megs and am quite pleased with the performance.
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Get a Faster Hard Drive |
There
are hard drives that spin at 7200 RPMs rather than the more common 5400
RPMs.
This means that you will get to your data reasonably faster. They are
not that much more expensive and well worth the money.
Go
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Defrag the Hard Drive |
| I
do this fairly frequently. Once a month or so. There are a few things
I do first to make sure I don't waste time defragging unnecessary files.
First
is to delete the Internet Explorer Temporary Files and History.
Second
is to delete TMP and BAK files.
Third
is delete any files and directories in the \TEMP and \WINDOWS\TEMP directories
Defragment
without the swapfile.
Windows98
has a built-in utility called Disk Cleanup. You can run it from either
the Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Cleanup or
directly run CLEANMGR.EXE
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File System Settings |
| If
you have 64 megs or more of memory you increase the performance of your
system.
Go
to Control Panel / System Properties / Performance / File System.
Change
the typical role of this computer to Network Server.
If
you have Win95 SR1, and you do not see a performance increase, occasionally
the NameCache and PathCache values are written to the registry incorrectly
for the Network Server. To fix the problem:
Start
Regedit
Go
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Server
Make
sure the following values are being used:
PathCache=40
00 00 00
NameCache=a9
0a 00 00 Go
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No New Floppy Detect |
While
you are in that section, click on the Floppy Disk tab and uncheck Search
for new floppy disks...
This will speed up your boot time. |
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Increasing Disk Performance |
| Go
to Start \ Settings \ Control Panel \ System \ Performance \ File System
\ Troubleshooting
Check the box Disable synchronous buffer commits.
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DMA |
| In
the Device Manager, go to the settings your Hard Drives and CD ROMs. If
any of them will allow a DMA box to be checked, you can try it. I've seen
it decrease my CPU utilization |
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CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT Files |
| Make
sure you don't have any unnecessary device drivers or programs here. Windows95
has most you will need already built into the OS. Go
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Removing Unnecessary Programs from Starting Automatically |
Many
programs add portions of themselves starting automatically on every login.
This can be either in the Startup Folder or the Registry.
One
easy way to tell is by looking at how many icons are in your system
tray. If you have a large number, perhaps unnecessary resources are
being allocated them as well as increasing your boot time.
Typical
examples are Microsoft Office, Office FindFast, Real Player, ATI Video
setting etc.
You
can remove them in one of three main ways:
In
the Start / Programs / Startup Folder
In
the Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows
\ CurrentVersion \ Run
If
you have Win98, WinME or Windows2000 you can use MSCONFIG to easily
remove programs. This is my preference since it allows you to toggle
them back on again in case you make a mistake
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