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Creative Intelligence @ Your Service |
Site Map +1 214 234 9283 | Send Email |
Our customers often ask about replacing Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME (collectively known as Win9x) systems. Performance concerns are often cited: over time, things have gotten noticeably slower.
But Win9x consumes less resources then NT, 2000, or XP. It should be faster in most installations. Poor performance, then, is often a problem of excess system load. This tip discusses finding and eliminating performance bottlenecks.
Please note that nothing can improve the performance of a system with slow internal components. If one has upgraded from say Office 97 through 2000 to XP and 2003, chances are the underlying hardware should be replaced. As a general rule, upgrade all computers slower then one gigahertz.
Win9x systems tend to get overloaded due to one of the following reasons:
To diagnose if any of the above is a performance bottleneck on a given system, we need to:
For best results, perform the following steps on a system with no open applications.
Note: the following examples show screen shots from a Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98 SE) system. Other Win9x systems will look similar but not identical.
There actually are six versions of Win9x: 95A, 95B, 95C, 98, 98 SE, and ME. All of these should perform well with only 64 megabytes of memory. 128 megabytes will handle all but the most demanding tasks.
Let's verify the Windows version installed and see if the system has at least 64 megabytes of memory. Right click on My Computer, select Properties from the resulting pop-up menu, and inspect the System Properties dialog box showing these items. Here is a sample:
In this example, we see the system is running 98 SE and has 512 megabytes of RAM. This system exceeds expectations. We recommend adding RAM if the system under test does not have at least 64 megabytes.
Note: several customers report the operation of ME is problematic. While we normally do not recommend upgrading a computer's operating system, we do in some cases recommend downgrading from ME to 98 SE.
Sometimes Win9x reports the system is low on resources. This is independent of memory: adding more memory will not increase system resources. To check the percentage of free resources, run Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Resource Meter. Then double click on the resource icon in the system tray:
The Resource Meter will now appear:
No category shown on the Resource Meter should dip below 25% free at idle or 10% free under load. This example shows a system well exceeding expectations. Eliminating programs loaded at boot time is the only solution for systems not meeting expectations: again, adding RAM will not increase free resources.
Win9x has a program to monitor CPU and memory load. To run this monitor, perform the following steps:
Execute Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Monitor.
Use the Add Item command under the Edit menu to create the following graphs:
Here is an example of how to add the Unused physical memory graph:
Set View -> Numeric Charts to get a direct readout of monitored items. Here is an example:
After this screen appears, wait about ten seconds for the statistics to settle. With no open applications, a system should run within the following constraints:
The above example shows a system well exceeding expectations. It also shows a graph for page faults, which should approximate zero. Adding memory may help systems not meeting expectations. So will eliminating unused programs.
Note: when unused physical memory drops below one megabyte, restart the system to avoid some "Blue Screen of Death" crashes.
To check how many programs are active, close all programs. Then type CTRL-ALT-DEL. A screen similar to the following appears:
Typical systems should have no more then ten different programs running at idle. The more active programs, the lower overall system performance. Click Cancel after inspecting this screen.
The above example shows a system exceeding expectations. For systems not meeting expectations, reducing startup load is recommended.
The following sections discuss some changes one can make to improve overall system performance.
Earlier we inspected processor load, free memory, and disk bandwidth on an idle system. We monitored one parameter each in the CPU, disk, and RAM categories.
While we check for reserve under idle, we should not run too low when the system is running under normal load. Use the system monitor on a regular basis to determine if upgrading CPU, disk, or memory will be worthwhile. Should the monitor show reasonable reserves even when the system is busy, upgrading hardware will not improve performance.
It's not uncommen for a Win9x system to load a dozen or more programs at boot, especially if software is never removed from the system. Programs like AOL, Kazaa, Real, and so on add a startup item item to the tray. These items basically make it faster to load the associated program. But if that program is infrequently used, resources for loading the startup are often wasted.
There are several methods for stopping programs from loading at boot time. From lowest to highest risk, those methods are:
These methods are discussed in turn:
Some programs, most notably RealPlayer, control startup settings in the application's Preferences section. For example, here is a screen shot from RealPlayer:
Note we have cleared the Enable StartCenter check box. On this system, RealPlayer does not load into the tray.
Other programs, most notably AOL, control startup setting via the tray program itself. For example, if one clicks the AOL tray icon and selects Exit, the program asks if fast loading should be discontinued permanently or not.
Use the appropriate feature depending on the application concerned to disable boot time startup whenever possible.
Win9x has a program group called Startup which can be used to load programs at boot time. To edit the Startup group, right click on the Start button and select Open. Double-click on Programs, then double-click on Startup. A screen similar to this appears:
This system shows only one Startup group item, the system monitor. Typical startup items include the Microsoft Office toolbar, PDA synchronization tools, printer monitors, and so on.
Software publishers typically only put optional shortcuts in the Startup group. If one does not mind manually starting an application, the corresponding shortcut may be deleted.
Sometimes our requirements for using a particular system change over time. Job assignments change, for example. Sometimes we now use rarely, if at all, software we once used regularly.
We can remove an entire application through the Add/Remove Programs dialog in the Control Panel:
Feel free to remove any programs that are no longer needed.
Note: do NOT remove programs associated with hardware, such as audio, disk, modem, or printer drivers. In the above example, we have highlighted a disk drive controller. Audio and Ethernet drivers also appear. Removing this type of software can disable a working system.
Windows 98 and later provide a utility for controlling what items are loaded at startup time. This utility is not available on any of the three Windows 95 versions.
To access this utility, invoke the Run... command under the Start menu, then type msconfig and press Enter:
The initial dialog appears. Choose Selective Startup:
To prevent a program from being loaded at boot time, clear its associated checkbox under the Startup tab:
Note: using this configuration utility requires expert knowledge. It is possible to prevent a required program from running. Should this occur, perform the following recovery steps:
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