Increasing Windows 95 Performance

INCREASING
PERFORMANCE

May 1996

Speeding Up the Start Menu
Obtain the Microsoft Powertoy 'TweakUI' from the Microsoft Web Site. It contains an option to speed up the Start Menu. This change will not take effect until you restart Windows 95.
This setting can also be changed using the Registration Editor, 'RegEdit', but 'TweakUI' is much safer.

Speed Up the System Restart
Add 'BootDelay=0' to the [Options] section of C:\msdos.sys
You may have to change the attributes on this file to be able to edit it.

Freeing Memory

Freeing Memory in DOS Windows
In the [386Enh] section of 'System.ini', add 'LocalLoadHigh=1'

Removing DriveSpace
If you are not using DoubleSpace or DriveSpace, delete 'drvspace.bin' and 'dblspace.bin'from both the C:\ and C:\Windows directories. This will free additional DOS memory and speed system startup.

Freeing Disk Space

Deleting Animated Help Files
If you know how to scroll, minimize windows, etc., you can recover 7.1 Megs of disk space by deleting the .AVI files from /windows/help

Deleting Extraneous or Leftover Files

You can safely delete the following files in the root directory:: *.txt, *.prv, *.log, *.old, *.___, and *.dos (unless you use dual-boot).
You can delete these files from the Windows directory:: *.log, *.old, *.___, *.bak, and, *.000, *.001, etc.

Software Drivers

Locating Software Drivers
Making sure you have good 32-Bit drivers for your peripherals will boost Windows 95 performance.

Optimizing Your Disks and Configuration

Defragmenting Your Disks
As files are opened, modified, and re-written to your hard disk, they gradually become fragmented. This means that your computer has to look in more and more locations to find all the parts of the files. To speed up your system, regularly run 'Disk Defragmenter' included with Windows 95 and located on the 'Start' menu under 'System Tools'.

Virtual Memory
Even though Windows 95 advises you to let it manage your virtual memory for best performance, this means that it will adjust it on the fly, causing moments of wild disk activity while you are virtually frozen. To set the disk cache permanently and stop this activity, do the following:

First, defragment your hard disk using 'Disk Deframenter' - see above
Right-click on 'My Computer', and select 'Properties'
Select the 'Performance' tab, and click 'Virtual Memory'
Select the drive you want your swapfile to be located on
Specify the same size for both 'Minimum' and 'Maximum' size. You may want to try different sizes for your swapfile. If you have less than 16 Megs of RAM and/or work a lot with 24-bit images, a good starting place is 2.5 times your amount of RAM.
Click 'Okay' a couple of times, and restart your computer.

Virtual Cache
Setting these values will prevent VCache from filling up your RAM and causing your applications to be paged out to disk.

Using Notepad or Wordpad, open 'System.ini'
Find the [vcache] section (or add it if it is not there), and add these two lines:

MinFileCache=0
MaxFileCache=4000
Restart Windows 95

Hardware Upgrades

Memory - RAM
Although Windows 95 will run in 4 Megabytes of RAM, I cannot envision anyone wanting to do so. With Windows 95, like Windows 3.1x, adding RAM will significantly boost performance. For the best price-to-performance ratio, 16 Megs is recommended. You will see an additional performance increase with even more RAM, but, unless you are working with many complex applications simultaneously, or editing 24-Bit color images, you get diminishing return on your money above 16 Megs.

Data Throughput
For best disk performance, use a quality EIDE or SCSI controller.

Video Acceleration
A quality, name-brand video accelerator, either VESA Local Bus or PCI, is recommended. Be sure to get one from a major manufacturer -- although good deals are often available on no-name cards with a known chipset, unless you get a major name brand, finding driver updates will be difficult.

Processors
Windows 95 will run on any processor from a 386DX up. For comfortable performance, upgrade to at least a 486DX2-66.
If you have problems with a particular motherboard/CPU, confirm that your BIOS will work with Windows 95. It is possible to get a BIOS upgrade, and that is certainly cheaper than installing a new motherboard.

The original version of this page can be found at the Windows 95 Tips & Tweaks site. This is a great site with tons of power user tips and info on customizing Windows 95.