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#19 by Neil Blanchard
Sat Feb 12, 2005 10:20 am
If your system is running a lot slower than it used to, or if you are having errors while working in large drawings, then it is possible due to low system resources: if you right-click on My Computer and go to the Performance tab; what percentage does it say? If it is too low, this is what causes your computer to slow down.

Just in case you missed the threads on this in the past, here is my method of getting the system resources up (I've gotten systems up to at least 90%, and some to 92-96%):

================
Tweaking Win98 (Win95 and WinME, too! But NOT WinNT/2K/XP...)

There are two limited resources in Win9x: GDI resources and User resources. For a much fuller explanation, go to: http://fp.computers.pcc.edu/pmcg/memory ... ources.htm To quote the salient bits:

The User component manages input from the keyboard, mouse, and other input devices and output to the user interface (windows, icons, menus, and so on). It also manages interaction with the sound driver, timer, and communications ports. [snippage] User Resources are limited to a fixed 64 kb. You cannot increase this.

The Graphics Device Interface (GDI) is the graphical system that manages what appears on the screen. It also provides graphics support for printers and other output devices. It draws graphic primitives, manipulates bitmaps, and interacts with device-independent graphics drivers, including those for display and printer output device drivers." GDI Resources are limited to a fixed 64 kb. You cannot increase this.

Another link is: http://www.informationweek.com/story/sh ... D=17200581 which is an article by Fred Langa, who publishes an excellent free newsletter on this and many other topics. http://www.langa.com/

So, how do you increase the System Resources?
Go to Start/Run and type MSconfig and this runs a very convenient editor program. On the last tab on the right, called Startup, you need to uncheck *all* the things that you do not *absolutely* need: leave only ScanReg, mouse and keyboard items, firewalls and antivirus startups, and maybe one or two things that are specific to your system. If you find that you can't do something that you really must have – come back in and recheck that item.

This will remove some of the items from your System Tray (which the row of icons near the clock), but you will probably need to remove others from your tray by changing their preferences and exiting them.

Turn off any "wallpaper" (the image on the background), and just choose a standard or a custom color -- this is a killer for system resources.

If you have a bazillion icons on your desktop (and I'll bet you do), then you need to ruthlessly delete those that you do not need, move others either to your Start menu (just drag them there), or you can make a custom toolbar:

Create a new folder on your C: drive called Toolbar, or whatever you think is an appropriate name, drag all the desktop short cuts (that won't fit on the Start menu) into this folder. Then right-click on the Start bar, choose Toolbars/New Toolbar and then browse to the new folder and select it. This wiil appear as a pop up menu with all of your shortcuts on it. You can also create subfolders, and rename things, and rearrange them as you think is best.

If you have any more than 3 or 4 icons, then you need to try harder! :-)

Turn off all “sound schemes”. Program sounds and music will still work – the schemes are just the Windows boot “tada” sound, and the like.

The bottom line is that you should be able to get this at least into the mid-80% range, and running any program including DataCAD 11 will be faster. Also, be sure to exclude all commonly used programs from your antivirus program.
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#684 by Alanna Govoni
Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:02 pm
Hi Neil-

Stupid question, I have read your post on system resources both here and in DBUG but I can't seem to check mine as you described. (I am not all that knowlegable in computers but am trying to learn more.)

When I right click on My Computer I don't see a "Performance" tab. My options include:

Open
Explore
Search
Manage
Scan with AVG
Map Network Drive
Disconnect Network Drive
Create Shortcut
Delete
Rename
Properties

I went into "Properties" but had no tabs for "Performance" in there either. I did a search for "performance" and found a constantly changing graph I am assuming references what you are talking about but, to be honest, I am not quite sure how to read it.

I am using Windows XP home/SP1 on a VAIO Sony laptop.

It has been running rather sluggishly and I want to try out your suggestions but I am curious what percentage I am running at now so I can really see what makes the most difference.

Thanks for your time as always,

Alanna
#685 by Neil Blanchard
Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:11 pm
Hi Alanna:

Alanna Govoni wrote:I am using Windows XP home/SP1 on a VAIO Sony laptop.


You missed the "subject" line -- this only affects Win95/98/ME, and not WinNT/2K/XP. :wink: This limitation is not there in these versions, because they have a very different way of handling RAM, though they are actually more demanding of RAM, so you need more installed in the system; all else being equal.

I'm not sure if all these things still shouldn't be avoided in WinNT/2K/XP, but at least it doesn't bring the system to a standstill if you pass a threshold.
#689 by Alanna Govoni
Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:58 pm
yeah, i noticed the subject line AFTER i posted! :oops:

i was looking for a way to speed up my computer and stumbled across your post which i remembered reading on DBUG several months ago. your suggestions seemed like a logical first step. however, a good first step probably would have been checking the subject line.

anyway, thanks for the quick reply!

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