Computer Tweaks
Computer tweaks for faster PC speed. Learn various
tips & tweaks for easier computing.
Using computer tweaks can help you
work much more productively on your computer. Tweak a few settings with
our PC tweaks and you'll be amazed at the time you can save. We used these
computer tweaks with a P-III class computer running on Windows 98. Since
there is a vast array of PC configurations, these tweaks and tips may not
work with your particular computer setup.
Computer tweaks require a bit of
caution. You should ALWAYS take note of your existing settings BEFORE you
make any changes. There is always risk of your PC not booting properly or
at all when you change certain Windows settings. We are NOT responsible
for any problems you may encounter by using these tweaks - you will be
tweaking at your own risk. The tweaks and information provided is for your
consideration only and is not guaranteed to be accurate.
We feel the safest way to tweak your
computer is to consider a pc accelerator software solution which will
tweak your computer with a few simple clicks. This software is a great
investment versus expensive upgrading costs.
These tweaks require you to be at
least a little computer savvy. If you are new to computing - please go to
your Windows Help (Click Start, then Help) or read your
manual. You can easily return after you have familiarized yourself with
your PC by book-marking now.
Your computer possesses a certain
amount of physical RAM memory. Windows will begin to use a Swap
file (Virtual Memory) when the physical RAM is full. Under the default
setting, this Swap file is controlled by Windows to shrink and grow
to its needs. This will reduce performance especially on slower machines.
If your computer has to access your
hard drive to read and write to the swap file, there will be a stutter in
performance. Compare this to zooming in and out of physical RAM and you
can see where buying more RAM can give you much faster performance.
To change your Virtual Memory
Settings, click on Start, Settings, Control Panel,
then open System, select Performance, and click Virtual
Memory. Click the white circle beside - Let me specify my own
virtual memory settings.
Confirm the proper drive is selected
and set the Minimum to - this is a topic for debate. Some believe
you should double your physical RAM and add 10%. However, if you start to
go higher than 255, you may experience performance losses when playing
graphic intensive games. I am set to 250 and I have 192 MB of RAM
installed. If you run a lot of games, 250 is probably your best option.
The Maximum setting is already
set to the available space on your drive. It's best to leave it at this
value. Many new graphic intensive games may require a large swap file, so
it's best to keep it at the max available space. If you already changed
this value by accident, simply click the Cancel button and start
over. Make sure you leave the Disable virtual memory box BLANK.
Next, click OK and a box will pop up
asking you if you're sure. This will Reboot your computer and close this
page (did you bookmark?). Once you start up again, it's a good idea to
de-frag your drive to optimize your system completely. But first... is
your De-frag utility moving your files around? See our next paragraph for
details.
De-fragmentation of your hard drive
is imperative for proper performance. If your machine seems sluggish and
slow, it may be in dire need of a de-frag session. Your hard drive
constantly has files written and erased to it. When large files are
written to a drive, the drive may place fragments of the file in many
different spaces that were left available by smaller files being deleted.
This spreads the data of files over the entire scope of the disk. When the
drive head goes to retrieve the file, it has to voyage over many areas of
the disk to retrieve it, thus hindering performance dramatically. By
de-fragging your drive, all the file fragments will be rejoined into
complete and unbroken files again.
You should shut down all open programs
before de-fragging your PC. The de-frag utility is found by clicking Start,
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Defragmenter.
For Windows 98 users, there is an
option in the Settings that will Rearrange program files so my
programs start faster. Yes, that is the way to go if you're running
mostly office or business software. However, if you're an avid computer
game player, you will receive more benefit by NOT using this option. Why?
You want all your game graphic texture files grouped in one block so the
drive head doesn't have to move so far to load graphics during game-play.
Rearranging your game files will slow down performance.
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