SPEEDING UP WINDOWS 95
Windows 95 with certain minor alterations and software upgrades can operate at a faster
more efficient
speed. With this Windows 95 tutorial, all the things you do now will be easier and
faster, and what you always
wanted to know is now here for you to learn. This tutorial will provide you with
insightful instructional and
informative tips about free programs such as TweakUI, and day to day maintenance OS
needs. First, it is very
important that you run Windows 95 with at least a high-end 486 (Pentium recommended), 8
megs of ram(adding
more ram will increase overall performance), and at least 1 meg of video memory. Most of
the following tips included
here are for speedy application processes while others simply rewrites or bug fixes.
One advantage Windows 95 has over its competitors is the user interface feature that
comes built in with the
operating system. User interface is a program within Windows 95 that allows customization
of certain interface
settings based on personal preference. About a year ago Microsoft released a small
program called TweakUI that
actually adds more flexibility and functionality to the already current user-friendly
interface. TweakUI is actually a
rewrite (bug fix) program that edits certain data files from the Windows 95 registry.
With TweakUI running on your
machine you can disable the following options which in turn will speed up your access
time: windows animation,
reboot start up, GUI interface, and last log on settings. TweakUI also adds a few nifty
extras such as: smooth scroll,
mouse enhancement, instant CD-ROM data load, and much more. Surprisingly enough TweakUI
is offered free of
charge to any WWW user and can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com or
http://www.tucows.com. TweakUI is a
definite must for any Windows 95 user looking to benefit the most from their home
computer.
No can argue that Windows 95 is the cleanest and most efficiently set up OS around. In
fact, Windows 95 is
by far the messiest OS to ever hit the market this decade. When compared to operating
systems such as MacOS,
OS2Warp, and Windows NT, Windows 95 finishes in dead last. This is due mainly to the fact
that when installing or
uninstalling a program in the Windows 95 environment, the program manager scatters files
all over different parts of
the file system (fixed disk directory). These scattered bits of files are often called
leftovers (which is to be taken by
definition of) which if left on your drive, cause extreme slow downs when you CPU is at
work. Usually leftovers can
be found in your c:/windows, c:/windows/system, or c:/windows/temp. The suffixed name for
leftovers is as follows
txt, old, log, ***,..., and tmp. Deletion of file leftovers make for faster access time
and more hard disk space
available.
We've already seen several simple but effective ways to increase performance in the
Windows 95
environment, but of all the most important is, disk defragmentation. Disk fragmentation
is the breaking up of different
access files all relative to certain programs installed on your fixed disk drive. Think
of your fixed disk drive as a big
completed jigsaw puzzle, which of moved, will break apart into several sub-puzzles. The
same holds true for your
fixed disk. When a program is installed it takes up the amount of disk space it needs to
function correctly (usually the
last available part of your drive). On the contrary, when a program is uninstalled it
creates a space or hole on your
fixed disk relative to where the program was before. Taking the same concept and applying
it in terms of the jigsaw
puzzle, we can clearly see what our fixed drive would physically look like. This is where
disk defragmentation comes
into play. It moves the rest of the currently installed programs on your drive from their
current position to the
position where the space is. Speed comes into play due to the fact that if you drive has
never been defragmented,
your CPU probably has to search in different areas of your physical drive for certain
start up files. Disk
Defragmentation comes with every version of Windows 95 and can usually be found by
clicking the taskbar and
highlighting the following: programs/accessories/system tools/disk defragmenter. Overall
defragmentation increases
performance by about 30 percent and make for a neater set up system.
As discussed earlier, the addition of extra ram, faster processor, and a good video card
make up a great
conventional way of boosting the level of your performance, unfortunately the expense is
never a pretty to hear. If
you currently have the minimum required setup (high-end 486, 8 megs of ram, 1 meg of
video memory), you should
see some good effective results from this tutorial. However, if your system falls short
of the minimum requirements, I
would definitely recommend a hardware upgrade or the purchase of a newer more up to date
machine.
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