Howdy and welcome back to another fun filled adventure with The Weekly Geek!
In this exciting episode we are going to explore a couple of ways to enhance Windows 95 performance. Yes, even though I believe that Windows 95 should not be on the internet due to a lack of security software, it is still a used operating system and saving up another dollar or two before you buy a new PC might take a little while.
I know the following might seem a little “geeky” but you can do it, I have faith in you. The following are a few “tweaks” to increase your computing pleasure.
- Go to Start | Run | and type in sysedit
- Navigate to the C:\Windows\System.ini screen (usually the fourth one back), look for the text listed below and make any changes as necessary
- Next navigate down to the [386Enh] section and look for the following values. DMABufferSize= (2,4,8,16,32,…)
This is for Direct Memory Access hardware. 64 is the best setting. DMA hardware includes hard drives, CD-ROMs, Printers and more. If you do not have this value, then feel free to enter it. Make sure that there are no spaces in the statement and the capitals are a must. You can place this statement anywhere under the [386Enh] setting. To enter the data simply place the cursor to the right of [386Enh] and press the Enter key and type it in exactly as spelled below. The following is how your data should look.
DMABufferSize=64
LocalLoadHigh= (0 [disabled] or 1[enabled])
This setting has Windows set the local drivers into upper memory leaving more conventional RAM open for Windows itself. I suggest setting the value to LocalLoadHigh=1. If you do not have this value, then feel free to enter it as the above. Make sure that there are no spaces in the statement and the capitals are a must. You can place this statement anywhere under the [386Enh] setting. The following is how your data should look.
LocalLoadHigh=1
You will now navigate to the[vcache] section of the System.ini file by scrolling down and make the following changes.
MinFileCache= and MaxFileCache= (these are sizes in KB)
This is the RAM that is using binary code directly run by the CPU. It is suggested that you set MinFileCache= and MaxFileCache= to 25% of your total RAM. To get the amount needed, multiply your RAM by 1024 to get the KB. Next you will divide that number by four. For example if you have 512MB RAM then 512*1024= 524288 then 524288/4= 131072 MinFileCache= and MaxFileCache= would be 131072. I would tinker with these settings a little because a specific % is kind of hard to determine due to your individual computing needs I have just decided to stick with 25%.
If you do not have these values (MinFileCache and MaxFileCache) then feel free to create them. To create them simply click the mouse one time to the right of the [vcache] and press the Enter key on your keyboard (this will take you to a new line), then type in the text exactly as spelled below changing the numerical value based on your RAM quantity. Make sure that there are no spaces in the statements and the capitals are a must. If you don’t, the computers compiler will not give you any errors, it will simply ignore the line when you boot up. Finally be sure that you put each setting on different lines. The following is how your data should look.
[vcache]
MinFileCache=1310720
MaxFileCache=1310720
Well, I hope this gives you a little more speed and operating power, until we meet again have a virus free week.