Optimizing Windows for games, graphics and multimedia
David L. Farquhar · Medical Entomology and Zoology · 1999
Preface. 1. System Optimization Theory What Makes a Computer Fast? The Ideal Operating System Working Within Windows' Limitations Is My Computer Getting Slower? What You Can Expect to Get from This Book Requirements for This Book Measuring the Improvement. 2. First Steps Check Your Free Disk Space Lose autoexec.bat and config.sys Make Sure Your System Is Using 32-bit Drivers Clean Out Your Startup Group Optimize Your Swap File Optimize Your Disk Cache (and Get a UPS!) Tune the Hidden Windows Disk Cache Settings Tune Your CD-ROM Caching Turn Off CD-ROM Autoplay Optimize Your Multimedia Settings Turn Off Power Management Take Down Your Wallpaper Use Hotkeys Instead of Desktop Icons Lose the Screen Savers Lose the System Sounds and Desktop Schemes Turn Off the Windows 98 Animations Turn Off Windows 98 Tooltips Find the Fastest Settings for Your Video Card Enable Your Hard Drive's DMA Setting Shrink Your Start Menu A Primer on Regedit and the Registry Turn Off Windows 95's Window Animation Turn Off Pause in Menus Turn Off Click Here to Begin Tune Windows 9x to Your Modern CD-ROM Drive Recover That Wasted CD-ROM Cache Memory Improve the Windows 9x Server Template Even More Reduce Filesystem Fragmentation. 3. Disk Optimization Directory Optimization Taking Care of Fragmentation Working Within the Physical Limitations of the Disk Living with FAT Other Disk Performance Tools How Much Difference Will This Make? Getting Rid of Disk Compression. 4. Speeding Up the Boot Process The Boot Process Explained Speeding Up the Boot Process msdos.sys Options Wringing That Last Ounce of Speed from msdos.sys Speeding Up autoexec.bat Getting By with Less in Your Startup Group Speeding Up POST Compacting the Registry. 5. Utilities What Tools You Need and How to Use Them Should I Upgrade to Windows 98? The Big Three Utilities Suites Uninstallation Programs Anti-Virus Software Freeware and Shareware Utilities. 6. Replacement Windows Shells Program Manager EVWM StarOffice LiteStep. 7. Optimizing DOS Try It Insufficient Memory? I Have 64 Megs! When DOS Programs Are Sluggish Running DOS Programs in DOS Mode A Pseudo-Dual Boot Dual-Booting Windows 9x and True DOS Tweaks You'll Want Even If You Never Run DOS Software What to Do When DOS Games Run Too Fast Putting It into Practice Running DOS Games from a RAM Disk. 8. Modems and the Internet Idealistic General Principles Finding Your Modem and Optimizing Your Port Speed Optimizing Your Port So What's This UART Business? A Bit of Low-Tech: Your Phone Connection Download the Newest Drivers for Your Modem Tune Your Connection via Software Speed Up DNS Lookups Lose the Ads Altogether Preloading and Caching Utilities Taking Full Control of Your Internet Connection The Value of Free Software Which Web Browser Should I Use? Tune Your Web Browser. 9. Home Networking Requirements Using Networks to Save Disk Space Some Networking Tips. 10. Clean Windows Installation First Steps with Windows 95 Hacking Out MSN and the Exchange Client OSR2.x's Excess Baggage Installing Windows 98 Installing Windows 98 Without Internet Explorer Removing Internet Explorer from an Existing Windows 98 Installation Installing Device Drivers Performing the Installation Post-Installation Magic Stupid Installation Tricks Multi-Booting Windows 95 and 98. 11. RAM Disks Advantages of RAM Disks Special Considerations for Windows 98 and RAM Disks. 12. Hardware Upgrades Prudence in Hardware Upgrades Realistic Memory Requirements Video Cards Modems Printers The PCI Bus Straight Talk on CPU Upgrades Motherboards CD-ROM and DVD Drives External Removable-Media Drives Scanners Monitors Input Devices Buying New Systems Scavenging What Do I Do with This Old 486? Appendix: Useful Web Resources. Index