hi- i was wondering if anyone knew how to make your computer really fast. i have a 1.2 ghz processor, with 512 mb of ram. so first i was wondering if anyone knew what i absolutley don't need on the startup with the msconfig. if you go to run:msconfig, and then click on the startup tab, i get a list of everything that my computer automatically is running right when i boot up my computer. i get stuff like: scan registry, task monitor,system tray, sis tray....etc. well my question is which ones do i have to have on my config sys at all times? that way if i know which ones i have to have, i can eliminate the ones i don't need and speed up my computer. also is there anything i can do to my bios to speed up my computer? and are there any programs i can use to speed up my computer and will this adversely affect my computer? thanks for reading and if you know anything, please let me know. cause currently i'm using Reason(audio software) and i want to have like 4 hard drives by the end of the summer, so my computer is running very fast and efficiently. i want it to be as fast as the hard ware will allow it to be.

1st to have 4 hard drives, you need a RAID motherboard. you can't do that w/ a regular harddrive. second, you need the registry scan, task monitor and all that stuff, what you dont' need is files like instant messanger, or other software that you have installed and that pop up everytime you start your computer. if you want to make it fast, dont' shut it off, leave it running, its better for it anyways

You can have 4 HD's with ide/pci cards. Raid would be the better-more expensive option.

If you do go with RAID then stick with the more well-known companies like Promise or Adaptec. I have an Abit MB with Highpoint Raid chip and it sucks. Has crashed and lost the stripe array 3 times. When that happens you just lost everything because using RAID 0 two drives work together as one. Also, take the time to properly set up memory management in your 'System.ini' file: [386Enh] MaxPhysPage=20000 ***** and ***** [vcache] minfilecache=262144 maxfilecache=262144

To see what everything is: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm To make it really fast; use everything anybody and everybody tells you to do to your machine like format the drive and just install Windows. It will then be as fast as it possibly can be. Are you running a slow 1.2ghz? Is it an Athlon? Surely I jest.

This was posted on the WinME forum, but most of the tweaks work on Win98 as well. http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20513.html Some people would take issue with ronroid's vcache settings. Ronroid: can you explain MaxPhysPage=20000? Of all the tweaks I've seen for system.ini, I've never seen that one. Does that also work for WinME?

thanks for everything guys. your knowledge is amazing. i only have more questions now. does any one know how i can tell if i have a raid system or not? also does anyone know a good place where i can get the ide/pci cards so i can have 4 hard drives?