Windows 95 with certain minor alterations and software upgrades can operate at afaster more efficient speed. With this Windows 95 tutorial, all the things youdo now will be easier and faster, and what you always wanted to know is now herefor you to learn. This tutorial will provide you with insightful instructionaland informative tips about free programs such as TweakUI, and day to daymaintenance OS needs. First, it is very important that you run Windows 95 withat least a high-end 486 (Pentium recommended), 8 megs of ram(adding more ramwill increase overall performance), and at least 1 meg of video memory. Most ofthe following tips included here are for speedy application processes whileothers simply rewrites or bug fixes. One advantage Windows 95 has over itscompetitors is the user interface feature that comes built in with the operatingsystem. User interface is a program within Windows 95 that allows customizationof certain interface settings based on personal preference. About a year agoMicrosoft released a small program called TweakUI that actually adds moreflexibility and functionality to the already current user-friendly interface.
TweakUI is actually a rewrite (bug fix) program that edits certain data filesfrom the Windows 95 registry. With TweakUI running on your machine you candisable the following options which in turn will speed up your access time:windows animation, reboot start up, GUI interface, and last log on settings.
TweakUI also adds a few nifty extras such as: smooth scroll, mouse enhancement,instant CD-ROM data load, and much more. Surprisingly enough TweakUI is offeredfree of charge to any WWW user and can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com orhttp://www.tucows.com. TweakUI is a definite must for any Windows 95 userlooking to benefit the most from their home computer. No can argue that Windows95 is the cleanest and most efficiently set up OS around. In fact, Windows 95 isby far the messiest OS to ever hit the market this decade. When compared tooperating systems such as MacOS, OS2Warp, and Windows NT, Windows 95 finishes indead last. This is due mainly to the fact that when installing or uninstalling aprogram in the Windows 95 environment, the program manager scatters files allover different parts of the file system (fixed disk directory). These scatteredbits of files are often called leftovers (which is to be taken by definition of)which if left on your drive, cause extreme slow downs when you CPU is at work.
Usually leftovers can be found in your c:/windows, c:/windows/system, orc:/windows/temp. The suffixed name for leftovers is as follows txt, old, log,***,…, and tmp. Deletion of file leftovers make for faster access time andmore hard disk space available. We’ve already seen several simple but effectiveways to increase performance in the Windows 95 environment, but of all the mostimportant is, disk defragmentation. Disk fragmentation is the breaking up ofdifferent access files all relative to certain programs installed on your fixeddisk drive. Think of your fixed disk drive as a big completed jigsaw puzzle,which of moved, will break apart into several sub-puzzles. The same holds truefor your fixed disk. When a program is installed it takes up the amount of diskspace it needs to function correctly (usually the last available part of yourdrive). On the contrary, when a program is uninstalled it creates a space orhole on your fixed disk relative to where the program was before. Taking thesame concept and applying it in terms of the jigsaw puzzle, we can clearly seewhat our fixed drive would physically look like. This is where diskdefragmentation comes into play. It moves the rest of the currently installedprograms on your drive from their current position to the position where thespace is. Speed comes into play due to the fact that if you drive has never beendefragmented, your CPU probably has to search in different areas of yourphysical drive for certain start up files. Disk Defragmentation comes with everyversion of Windows 95 and can usually be found by clicking the taskbar andhighlighting the following: programs/accessories/system tools/disk defragmenter.
Overall defragmentation increases performance by about 30 percent and make for aneater set up system. As discussed earlier, the addition of extra ram, fasterprocessor, and a good video card make up a great conventional way of boostingthe level of your performance, unfortunately the expense is never a pretty tohear. If you currently have the minimum required setup (high-end 486, 8 megs ofram, 1 meg of video memory), you should see some good effective results fromthis tutorial. However, if your system falls short of the minimum requirements,I would definitely recommend a hardware upgrade or the purchase of a newer moreup to date machine.
Category: Technology
