Tune up for speed

[stevenvee]

I have a 350mhz PII, 128Ram, ati rage pro 8mb video,30G 5400 Eide HD, Plexwriter 12/10/32a CD-RW, Memorex 48x Eide CD-ROM running Win 98 OS. The system seems sluggish. I run Norton Speed disk regularly and try to keep my files cleaned up. What can I do to put a little zip in my system without spending a fortune. Maybe optimize the registry and get rid of some junk? But how do I do this stuff?

Thanks in advance. Steve

[This message has been edited by stevenvee (edited 01-10-2001).]

[justy]

There's a program called ctcm7, you can use it to check to make sure you have write allocation enabled for your memory.

I had a 500mhz K62, that ran like a pig without write alloc. enabled. the performance difference with it enabled was more than noticable.

You might even have an option for this in your Bios, I'm not sure.

I can't remember the site I downloaded ctcm7 from, but will search it out for you now.

All the best, Justy.

P.S. check all your settings, you might be able to tweak them abit to get more umph.

[CMonster]

Seriously - backup all your important and beloved files with the CDRW before you start.


It sounds like you are already taking pretty good care of your system.


I think nothing is faster than a clean install. While there are lots of tips and tricks, and many programs that are designed to "optimize" your computer, still nothing is faster than a clean install. I am not telling you to reinstall, but that is an option. For more radical possibilities go check out www.98lite.net (http://www.98lite.net)

When ever I used anything with the "Norton/Symantec" name on it my machine actually slowed down.

BTW - the "write allocate" thing was a K6-2 bug and should not apply to your Intel CPU.

[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 01-10-2001).]

[stevenvee]

I hate to sound stupid but what is a "clean install" and what about doing something with the registry and getting rid of all the junk?

Thanks for the quick reply.

Steve

[benchristian]

clean install is formatting your hard drive(s). This leaves no trace of anything on your computer. Then start fresh by reinstalling windows, drivers for your video card, programs, etc.

[stevenvee]

Whoa. That sounds like a ton of work and very difficult to get right.

[This message has been edited by stevenvee (edited 01-10-2001).]

[CMonster]

As benchristian stated, a clean isntall is formatting the hard disk and reinstalling Windows from scratch.


There is a program called "registry clean" that you used to be able to d/l from Microsoft - it may still be available. To keep your registry clean you should always use "uninstall" for programs, but you may still have to run regedit to manually clean out old entries pertaining to programs that have been uninstalled.


Export/backup your registry before messing with it.

Also, try running msconfig to see what programs run at startup - if you can turn off unnecessary programs it will speed up your machine.




[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 01-10-2001).]

[BFlurie]

http://members.aol.com/axcel216/

[voogru]

thanks for the Link Bf!!!

-voogru

[Richard_Cranium72]

For REAL speed, listen to the Cookie Munster.

A way to get the options of 98 Lite without shelling out the money(like I did) is go to www.zdnet.com/downloads (http://www.zdnet.com/downloads) and search for ie eradicator.

This did all the features of 98 lite without a cent.

It is very simple to use.

AFTER you get your system running like it is supposed to STOCK, put all the icons on the desktop you want,,, FIRST.

Then and only then do the lite thingy,,

Oh, I almost forgot,, you must have a Win95 CD to do the lite thing correctly.

It grabs the 95 Windows Explorer and trashes 98 Explorer.

I suggest getting a 250+mb HD and installing Internet Explorer on it to keep your system mostly free of internet buggies..

If this sounds like a lot of work,, it can be untill you get the hang of it.

It usta take me 4.5 hrs to format my HP,
Now I can blaze through it in 4.49 hrs http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

DrVette

[justy]

Assuming you've been mad enough to listen to what the rest of us said??? Go with what the the Doc say's.
I can only assume that he speak's on a higher plato than me, being an ultimate member, and I as only one off his subordanites!!!

No seriously, If you want to get the best out of your system, Nobody's told you lie's yet. It's simply a comprimise between a complete clean install, or live with what you've got.

sorry,,,,,, I'm kinda getting drunk! apologisies in advance!.

All the best, Justy.

[justy]

I've done it again!!!

You must somewhere, in sysopt win a prise for the dic£he@d, who consistantly posts twice!

Sorry,sorry,sorry, Justy!.

[This message has been edited by justy (edited 01-10-2001).]

[RenaissanceMan]

As Justy has stated, nobody has told you lies here.... there are some good options for you to choose from. here is some registry information for you.
This is a novice friendly step-by-step HOWTO for CLEANING AND SHRINKING YOUR WIN9x REGISTRY.

********* ARTICLE DELETED -- PLEASE DO NOT POST COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HERE THAT YOU DO NOT OWN *********

Information was taken from: http://www.knowplace.org/registry.html

[This message has been edited by SysOpt (edited 05-16-2001).]

[stevenvee]

Ren Man.

Whew! I'll get right on that. I'll let you know in a few months how it came out. Why don't you write a program that does all that stuff and sell it. It would save a lot of time.

Now I've go a hobby.

Steve

[sharder8]

RenaissanceMan --

Your posting of that article was great!!! They only missed one hidden command. While still in DOS, the last thing you can do is type "scanreg /OPT" (minus the quotation marks) Enter. That will optimize your Registry by removing extra empty lines.

Harder

[bairdy]

c monster, do you have any more info on the "write allocation thing" that you mentioned to BTW?
My amd runs like a slug in custard and I need to check if this is causing the problem.

cheers

Bairdy

[bhess]

since nobody mentioned it yet. I recommend getting Driveimage pro or ghost. Then when you do a clean install and get all of the bare minimum drivers and software installed take an image of it. Then all you have to do later is a restore and you're back nice and clean without having to install all over again. 15 min tops.

[BFlurie]

Bairdy, the program ctcm17a.zip at this site (http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/ctsi.shtml) and run in pure dos will show if your mobo is supporting write-allocation. Here's another site (http://www.geocities.com/liamsay/) with AMD tweak progs.