Speeding Up Windows 95

SPEEDING UP WINDOWS 95
Windows 95 with certain minor alterations and software upgrades can operate at a faster more efficient
speed. With this Windows 95 tutorial, all the things you do now will be easier and faster, and what you always
wanted to know is now here for you to learn. This tutorial will provide you with insightful instructional and
informative tips about free programs such as TweakUI, and day to day maintenance OS needs. First, it is very
important that you run Windows 95 with at least a high-end 486 (Pentium recommended), 8 megs of ram(adding
more ram will increase overall performance), and at least 1 meg of video memory. Most of the following tips included
here are for speedy application processes while others simply rewrites or bug fixes.
One advantage Windows 95 has over its competitors is the user interface feature that comes built in with the
operating system. User interface is a program within Windows 95 that allows customization of certain interface
settings based on personal preference. About a year ago Microsoft released a small program called TweakUI that
actually adds more flexibility and functionality to the already current user-friendly interface. TweakUI is actually a
rewrite (bug fix) program that edits certain data files from the Windows 95 registry. With TweakUI running on your
machine you can disable 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 offered free of
charge to any WWW user and can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com or http://www.tucows.com. TweakUI is a
definite must for any Windows 95 user looking to benefit the most from their home computer.
No can argue that Windows 95 is the cleanest and most efficiently set up OS around. In fact, Windows 95 is
by far the messiest OS to ever hit the market this decade. When compared to operating systems such as MacOS,
OS2Warp, and Windows NT, Windows 95 finishes in dead last. This is due mainly to the fact that when installing or
uninstalling a program in the Windows 95 environment, the program manager scatters files all over different parts of
the file system (fixed disk directory). These scattered bits 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, or c:/windows/temp. The suffixed name for leftovers is as follows
txt, old, log, ***,..., and tmp. Deletion of file leftovers make for faster access time and more hard disk space
available.
We've already seen several simple but effective ways to increase performance in the Windows 95
environment, but of all the most important is, disk defragmentation. Disk fragmentation is the breaking up of different
access files all relative to certain programs installed on your fixed disk 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 true for your
fixed disk. When a program is installed it takes up the amount of disk space it needs to function correctly (usually the
last available part of your drive). On the contrary, when a program is uninstalled it creates a space or hole on your
fixed disk relative to where the program was before. Taking the same concept and applying it in terms of the jigsaw
puzzle, we can clearly see what our fixed drive would physically look like. This is where disk defragmentation comes
into play. It moves the rest of the currently installed programs on your drive from their current position to the
position where the space is. Speed comes into play due to the fact that if you drive has never been defragmented,
your CPU probably has to search in different areas of your physical drive for certain start up files. Disk
Defragmentation comes with every version of Windows 95 and can usually be found by clicking the taskbar and
highlighting the following: programs/accessories/system tools/disk defragmenter. Overall defragmentation increases
performance by about 30 percent and make for a neater set up system.
As discussed earlier, the addition of extra ram, faster processor, and a good video card make up a great
conventional way of boosting the level of your performance, unfortunately the expense is never a pretty to hear. If
you currently have the minimum required setup (high-end 486, 8 megs of ram, 1 meg of video memory), you should
see some good effective results from this tutorial. However, if your system falls short of the minimum requirements, I
would definitely recommend a hardware upgrade or the purchase of a newer more up to date machine.