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Optimizing Your PC''s Performance

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

Hard disk: A well

maintained hard disk not only ensures that your data is

kept safe, but also ensures that it is retrieved faster.

Invest in a good diagnostic and repair tool like Norton

Utilities. Ensure that you diagnose your hard disk

regularly with a utility like the Norton Disk Doctor for

best performance. Also use disk defragmenting tools to

ensure good file retrieval speeds. If nothing else, use

Scan Disk and Disk Defragmenter provided with Win 95

(Start/ProgramFiles/Accessories/System Tools).

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Virtual memory: By

default, Win 95 uses a swap file of variable size, which

is a very inefficient way of handling the swap file, as

it gets spread out all across the disk. You need to

specify a swap file of fixed size, and also optimize it

while running your disk defragmentation utility. To do

so, open the System Properties control panel and select

the Performance tab. Click on Virtual Memory and select

Let me specify my own virtual memory settings. Now, set

the same value for both minimum and maximum size. You can

run the system resource meter in Win 95 to check your

swap file usage. If it frequently goes beyond 90 percent,

it’s time to increase your swap file (or upgrade

your RAM). Tools like Norton Utilities let you defragment

and optimize the swap file also.

BIOS settings: One

way to reduce booting time is to change the boot sequence

in the BIOS to C, A, from the default A, C. If your BIOS

supports it, then disable floppy seek on boot up. This

also eliminates the possibility of getting your system

affected by virus infected floppies which are accessed

during boot-up. Enabling all available caches on your

motherboard will also give you a significant performance

boost.

Display: Use

resolutions fit for the size of your monitor screen. For

example, if you have a 14" or 15" monitor, then

a resolution of 800 x 600 would be ideal. Higher

resolutions on smaller screens not only eat up memory and

slow down your system, but they also cause a lot of eye

strain. Setting a higher color depth (Control

Panels/Display Properties/Settings/Colour Palette) can

also reduce your overall system performance. If you are

not doing much of graphical work, then there is no need

to go for 16- or 24-bit color.

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IE 4: Internet

Explorer 4 is quite a memory hog and is to be avoided on

systems with 16 MB or lesser memory.

Screen savers: These

days, screen savers are more a work of art, and hog huge

amounts of processing capacity. While some like AfterDark

and the Simpsons can be fun, the drag on your CPU is also

as real. If you insist on having screen savers, then at

least increase the time for which the system waits before

setting the screen saver active.

Registry: The

System Registry in Win 95 keeps track of installed

programs, and as it gets bigger, it can degrade system

performance. Utilities like RegClean help keep your

Registry and your PC nimbler. While removing applications

under Win 95, use the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

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