These prior posts are listed by (sub) topic with the most recent first. Be sure to look at several of the posts, since some of them add to (or contradict!) prior posts. URLs from some MS Knowledge Base articles are also included. Speaking for myself (who else?), I’ve learned a lot from these posts and from experience, so I’d give more credibility to later posts, especially from the same person. For the reasons behind these posts, see http://.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19923.html I hope these posts help you find what you’re looking for. Some people like them, some don’t. This post doesn’t make me an expert, but if you read all the listed posts, you may become one! If you can add resources or clarifications, I’m sure most readers would be grateful. These posts contain the collective wisdom of the many people who contribute to this forum. And a lot of detritus to wade through as well. ============================================================ PRIOR POSTS ON TWEAKING WinME; INCLUDES RESOURCES TOO LOW, SYSTEM TOO SLOW, MEMORY [LEAKS], SWAP FILE, SYSTEM.INI, STARTUP, VCACHE, ETC. There’s obviously some overlap, duplication, etc. If you have questions on tweaking your system, look at as many as you can. Only those posts that deal SOLELY with an individual topic are listed separately. NB: Someone in one of these posts pointed out that resources are there to be utilized. (Am I correct in assuming if you could force system resources to stay at 100% all the time your computer couldn’t do anything?) The point is not to have resources drained by loading too many things at startup, or by not having things unload from memory after a program closes. Usually these “RESOURCE - Prior Posts on ...” simply list prior posts. This one also lists some of the best ideas separately, before the prior post listings, to save you the trouble of sifting through lots of post to find the most popular tweaks, or even to just find out how much of your resources you are using. Posts that are rather thorough (individual or collective responses) and/or have info that other posts do not are indicated with a * before the URL. IMHO, the best solutions are to tweak existing settings, rather than to download one or more programs that will take up the memory they’re supposed to be managing, as well as taking up disk space. Regardless of the size of your hard drive, whether it’s 6GB or 60GB, the more crap on it (and in the registry and in memory) the less efficient your system. For some people Cachman 5 works wonders. For others it’s changing or adding lines to System.ini, setting Vcache max to 1/4 of your physical memory and min to 1/16 of physical memory. (Thankfully, one poster corrected my arithmetic; in some of my posts the examples I gave were 1/4 and 1/16, but I called them 1/4 and 1/8.) For views on Cacheman, go to http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15068.html. Downloading a program to help you tweak settings is another story. Three of the very best are TweakUI v 1.33, Xteq Systems X-Setup, and MS RegClean. TwekUI: www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys/networking/nttweakui.asp or www.microsoft.com/windowsme/guide/tweakui.exe which goes immediately to download. http://www.winguides.com/downloads.php?guide=registry (Has TweakUI and Reg Clean) Xteq Systems X-Setup: http://www.xteq.com From a post by “I’ll Try”: Install it and at [+]System / [+]Memory, click General Memory Settings, check Unload DLLs directly. These programs are powerful, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can easily do more harm than good. But they can change your registry settings, eliminating your having to manually edit the registry, which may be even riskier. MS RegClean is not actually a tweak, but a free, fast, easy way to clean up your registry. http://winguides.com/downloads.php?guide=registry Go here for comments: http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20472.html TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR SYSTEM’S AVAILABLE MEMORY/RESOURCES: Start/Run/MSConfig/Help/About Control Panel/System/Performance Start/Run/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Resource Meter Start/Run/Msinfo32 Do NOT use Norton’s System Doctor (it sucks up the very resources it’s supposed to measure, and processor usage will always be screaming at or near 100%.) A FAST , SAFE AND EASY TWEAK: Right click on my computer / properties / performance / file system, and where it says “desktop” change it to “network server.” (From a post by gtw_tech) ALSO, KEEP IN MIND OCKHAM’S RAZOR: “A rule in science and philosophy stating that entities should not be multiplied needlessly. This rule is interpreted to mean that the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable and that an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known. Also called law of parsimony. [After Ockham, William of.]” (AHD4) ============================================================ Memory Leaks (KB Q278368) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q278368 http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13665.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/12040.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/11917.html PC Health/System Restore/*StateMgr/Hard drive constantly being accessed http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19874.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18169.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15340.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15324.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15037.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14593.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/4390.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/295.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q267952 Swap File http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20090.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19942.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19090.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13460.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/11989.html Startup http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19572.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14834.html http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm (Click on full list under programs) System.ini/Vcache/MSDOS.SYS * http://members.aol.com/axcel216/lastweek.htm http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20323.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20238.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/16201.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/16073.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13745.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13008.html Everything else (Low Resources, System Too Slow, etc.) * http://computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/104272.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20206.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19857.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19716.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19689.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19664.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19414.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18705.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18106.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18003.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/17284.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/17194.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/17131.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/16793.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15622.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15423.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15151.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15068.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14896.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14359.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13408.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/12925.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/11009.html

I have only known about this site for a week. This has been tremendous. This is a great post as most of these are. Thanks you renaissance man

Above post is quite informative....tsk..tsk.. but i'm getting tired of the copy 'n paste way...i'll read it back nest time...thanks for the compilation RM !!!

Part of Renaissance Man's Post Reposted: Memory Leaks (KB Q278368) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q278368 http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13665.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/12040.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/11917.html PC Health/System Restore/*StateMgr/Hard drive constantly being accessed http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19874.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18169.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15340.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15324.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15037.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14593.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/4390.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/295.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q267952 Swap File http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20090.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19942.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19090.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13460.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/11989.html Startup http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19572.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14834.html http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm (Click on full list under Programs) System.ini/Vcache/MSDOS.SYS * http://members.aol.com/axcel216/lastweek.htm http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20323.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20238.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/16201.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/16073.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13745.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13008.html Everything else (Low Resources, System Too Slow, etc.) * http://computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/104272.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/20206.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19857.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19716.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19689.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19664.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/19414.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18705.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18106.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18003.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/17284.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/17194.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/17131.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/16793.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15622.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15423.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15151.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/15068.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14896.html * http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14359.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13408.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/12925.html http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/11009.html Gee wiz that's a lot of hyperlinks. Hope they all work. If not please don't be upset. Like I said there is a lot and my keyboard tends to not work right some times ;-) RM I hope this doesn't upset you just trying to help. If it does let me know and I wont do it anymore. I'll Try

Good job, I'll Try! Thanks! Could you email that to me at delindex@yahoo.com? Since I update my copy of "RESOURCE" posts, when I post an updated list (which will have hyperlinks) I won't have to do these over.

EMM386 driver not installed I messed with system.ini and changed all that was needed to be changed all I want is EMS memory to work I got it to 16M and before it was zero. I don't understand my system. I've tried everything there is to try. I have wME and I can't change my config.sys to manually do this I've tried a boot disk with win95a win95b and all win98 I either can't get to my C:\ or my cd rom doesn't work and with one of them I got both running by messing with config.sys but than my EMM386 wasn't installed. how do I figure out how to make EMM386 to run I checked all the webpages and they told me that I don't have enough upper memory if that's the case how do I expand my upper memory? Please reply soon D

First- to Ren Man, as usual, thanks for all your help. This post is, in my opinion, a work of technical art! Next- to I'll Try - Good job! I hope the minimally appreciative godz can now surf his way through all those pages without having to get "tired of the copy 'n paste way". And, lastly to godz - If you didn't like the format that it was given to you, don't you think YOU could've taken the time to reformat it and post it? Your appreciation for all that this site has to offer and the people who are OBVIOUSLY dedicated to it, leaves a lot to be desired. When was the last time YOU did something for someone without asking for anything in return?