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PC Guru's. . .98 question

Grizzley

NAXJA Forum User
Running a Gateway system with a 566 processor and 255 meg of ram. When i first started using the system i was running 85% free on my resources. Now on start-up I'm down to 62% and this morning this site is loading like I've got dial-up. Where do I find the info on what's eating up the resources? What programs are really needed on start-up and for normal running? I run Norton for the Anti-virus but seriously thinking of changing over to one of the free programs as I'm now also running Black Ice and have control of what's coming in. I also run Web Washer to get rid of all the junk left from being on-line. Any ideas? Thanks for your time.

Marshall
 
Really the only things you need to run 98 are Explorer and system tray. Add to that the components of Norton Anti-virus (I've never had problems with this as a resource hog), and you should still have plenty of resources. If you have DSL on win 98, you probably also have a program or two that are necessary for that.

Go to start/run "msconfig" and open the "startup" tab. You can now uncheck anything you find there that looks unnecessary without actually removing or damaging anything. Restart, look at resource meter, recheck things one at a time as needed, and you should be able to pinpoint where the resources are being eaten up.

Some programs will recheck themselves if some other program is run, so watch for that. Also, if you have programs that are in the "startup" folder, and recheck them, they will be moved to a new folder called "disabled startup items." Once a program is there, if some other program re-checks it as a startup item, MSconfig will not be able to uncheck it again unless you remove it from the disabled folder.
 
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! I do know to stay away from the registry. I usually run my Mac and run on bare extentions there. Never have understood these pc's though. :confused:
 
I have found a program called Spy Bot Search & Destroy that works really good at cleaning excess junk from the registry, plus it helps in removing unwanted (unsolicited) adware and other junk that can really slow you down. Just do a search on Google and give it a try...
 
SpyBot is a good program....but it will alert you to ALL forms of information tracking. Some of which...you probably want. All in all a great product. You can deelete most stuff it tells you to but I wouldn't just delete everything it says to.
 
Let's see...

I run the full Norton suite and it doesn't cause me any trouble. Most free antivirus programmes can't catch a cold without written instructions, be warned.

If you are running MSOffice and have the Office Shortcut Bar up - get rid of it. It takes 18% of whatever you have. (No, I don't know why either...)

I highly recomment Lavasoft Ad-Aware to kill off spyware. Works well, is free, and is something free that I'd be willing to pay for (high praise!)

Concur with clearing out the system tray (near the clock) on the taskbar. Hit ctrl-alt-del and go thru the list - you'd be surprised what's running! If you want, type out the list and email it to me, and I'll give you an idea what's doing what.

If you have Norton Speed Disk (in SystemWorks or Utilities) try this -
A) Right click "My Computer" - "Properties" - "Performance" (I think on the last one.) You should be able to find a setting to alter virtual memory. Set to "zero" or disable it, and reboot.

B) Defrag with Norton Speed Disk. This will take a while, owing to no swap file.

C) Reboot after defrag, and go to your VM settings as above. Rest Virtual Memory - I think I usually allocated 5x physical RAM for VM, drive space permitting.

What this will do is a thorough defrag of the hard drive, and reallocate the swap file as a single "zone" on the drive. This will usually make a significant difference in system performance, and should be done about twice a year. Do your normal defrag about once a month.

If you want more after that, hit me backchannel and we'll talk.

5-90
 
5-90 said:
Let's see...

I run the full Norton suite and it doesn't cause me any trouble. Most free antivirus programmes can't catch a cold without written instructions, be warned.

If you are running MSOffice and have the Office Shortcut Bar up - get rid of it. It takes 18% of whatever you have. (No, I don't know why either...)

I highly recomment Lavasoft Ad-Aware to kill off spyware. Works well, is free, and is something free that I'd be willing to pay for (high praise!)

Concur with clearing out the system tray (near the clock) on the taskbar. Hit ctrl-alt-del and go thru the list - you'd be surprised what's running! If you want, type out the list and email it to me, and I'll give you an idea what's doing what.

If you have Norton Speed Disk (in SystemWorks or Utilities) try this -
A) Right click "My Computer" - "Properties" - "Performance" (I think on the last one.) You should be able to find a setting to alter virtual memory. Set to "zero" or disable it, and reboot.

B) Defrag with Norton Speed Disk. This will take a while, owing to no swap file.

C) Reboot after defrag, and go to your VM settings as above. Rest Virtual Memory - I think I usually allocated 5x physical RAM for VM, drive space permitting.

What this will do is a thorough defrag of the hard drive, and reallocate the swap file as a single "zone" on the drive. This will usually make a significant difference in system performance, and should be done about twice a year. Do your normal defrag about once a month.

If you want more after that, hit me backchannel and we'll talk.

5-90

If you don't have Norton, and use the native Windows defrag, in Windows 98 it is necessary to make sure you have no screen saver running, or it will keep restarting. If you still have problems, run it in safe mode.
 
highly recomment Lavasoft Ad-Aware to kill off spyware. Works well, is free, and is something free that I'd be willing to pay for (high praise!)

Ad-Aware works well...but will not find everything that SpyBot will. Both free. Both GOOD. IF I run Adaware and it doesn't get everything I run SpyBot. Recently I have just skipped using Adaware and gone straight to SpyBot with perfect results.

I would rather pay for SpyBot the AdAware.

Also.....defragging on Windows 98 will make a big difference. The M$ one will work fine for you. Do turn off the screen saver and don't do anything while it is defragging.

Norton Suite is a waste in my opinion....but the Speed Disk is a great utility. =)
 
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