By: Walt Dimmock
Does your computer appear to take forever when loading its
operating system and your favorite programs, even when you have
taken the precaution to defrag your hard drive? But, then you say
you are running adequate RAM. “Why is my computer so slow to load?”
you ask. The culprit may be your system resources. The computer’s
system resources should be running between 80-90% at start-up but
ideally they should be running above 90%. (My computer runs at 98%
at start-up.) Many users will find that their system resources are
running well below optimum level, causing their new state of the art
computer to operate like and old Pentium 66. And all the RAM you
added will not make any difference!
Users of Windows 98 and Windows ME can easily remedy their low
resources, but for Windows 95 you will need to have a working
knowledge of DOS. In this article I will be only addressing Windows
98 and ME.
Look at the task bar in the lower right corner where the clock is
located. Any visible icon signifies a running program, but there
will be many program icons not shown even while they are running in
the background.
When your computer is first booted, these programs will start
running in the background without your knowledge. Many software
programmers have built into their programs, switches that will start
them running so that you can access them faster when you need them.
These programs will then be “idling” until needed. But do you really
need that extra millisecond at the cost of your computer’s
efficiency? Would you let your automobile idle all night just so you
can have it warmed up for the next day?
To check your resources, right click on the "my computer” icon,
then left-click properties. In the system properties dialog box,
left click the “performance” tab. Here you can see at what
percentage your system resources are running at. If you have many
windows open you can expect them to be low. But if you just turned
your computer on and they are low you may want to improve on your
system resources.
While in the “performance” tab, go to the bottom where it says
“advance settings” and right click “file system”. In the “hard
drive” tab be sure your computer is set to “network server”. Even
though you may not be on a network, this setting fools the computer
into thinking it is a network server and will use more of its buses
from the processor for faster operations. Now right click “OK” and
then right click the next “OK”.
Now go to the “start menu” and click “run” and in the space,
type: “msconfig” and hit “OK”. This brings you to the “System
Configuration Utility” shown in fig 1. (This example is from Windows
ME. Windows 98 will not have the “Environment” and “International”
tabs.) Click on the “startup” tab and you will see the many programs
listed
Screen Shot Of System Configuration Utility
FIG 1
And many of the boxes on the left will be checked signifying that
these programs have been running in the background since the
computer was started. You can start uncheck some of these boxes,
but be sure to leave checked: system tray, Scanregistry, TaskMonitor,
and the virus scan. (See fig 2)
Screen Shot Of System Configuration Utility
Startup
FIG 2
After you unchecked a few programs, click OK,
close the window and you will be prompted to restart the computer.
After which, go to “my computer” right click and left click
properties and recheck your system resources. There should be an
improvement. If you wish to better the system resources return to
the “System Configuration Utilities” and uncheck some more boxes and
you should see an improvement.
When you load a new program in your computer, you may want to
check to see if it loaded its “idling switch “ in the System
Configuration Utilities. You may then want to uncheck it.
The rule of thumb is if you have an icon on your desktop or in
the start menu, you will not need it in the “System Configuration
Utilities.
