Useful information for you and your computer!

WOW!
This is one of the best threads I've ever seen here for a long time!
ThanX to Matthew Gates I started loving my PC instead of tearing my hair apart (I'm not bald, I'm only 13).
Well... I don't kiss my computer, I just love it and quite often hug it (I'm not childish, it acts better now!).
Like Matthew said, you should love your computer nstead of hitting it like I used to!

I summarized this thread to certain steps:
1. Turn off your screensaver (if you have).
2. Turn off the auto-screen-shutoff (if you had it).
3. Delete those {FF 0 bytes files.
4. Run ScanDisk (or any Symantec app that does the same)
5. Go to Work/School
---Next Day---
6. Run DeFrag
7. Go to Work/School

By the way, I suggest you all, if you have a short memory, to use the Win98 Scheduled Tasks feature to open DeFrag and ScanDisk every 2 weeksor so.

And I have a question to you all (especially Matthew Gates).
Do you have any dvice for those who have a 2 year-old 10GB hard-drive which really needs a cleaning. You know, deleting files.
I have a CD-Burner if you suggest using that.
I have so many projects, so many MP3's, so many apps and so many files that I just don't know what to delete coz I have this feeling I need to keep it all there!

ThanX in advance and for all the PPL who wrote in this thread. :) (especially Matthew)


Edited to complete something...

[Edited by Asaf_99 on 10-19-2000 at 09:54 PM]

Thank you very much Asaf_99. I just wanted to share this information with people because I thought it would be helpful and it turns out, it is! :)

To answer your question, I have a few solutions.

• Go to Start > Run > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup and that will delete any temporary files or anything useless.
• Empty the Recycling Bin
• Delete the Mp3 files that you don't really listen to.
• Delete any files (BIG or Small and non-important) that you felt like downloading, just to take a look at it, but never deleted it.

That should be good enough information to you for now. To get you started on having a much faster and more free spaced hd.

There are a lot useful things on Win98 that people just don't seem to use because it takes time or whatever. Explore your Win98, get to know some of its files. I am sure you can find other stuff there as well.

Once again, I appreciate your compliments Asaf_99. Glad it helped you.

I don't think so...

What is your o/s ???
I've done your way before.
Till Last year, I always defragment my computer, coz others said that it will run faster than before.

Everytime I've just format and re-install my computer, I always do a defragment. And every 2 months, I always do a defragment process.

But, it seems that defragment doesn't work well, I think... And sometimes makes your computer become slower than before... Like what I've got when I'm still using Windows 98 operating system.

You know what ???
I think it's better for me to keep my computer as its default. Now, I never do a defragment process on my computer, and I think, it run faster than if I defrag my computer.

Cheers,
Wen Lie

Suit yourself...

Thought I'd try answering some of the q's on here with what I know.

To dragonyian: Question 1: get TweakUI from microsoft's web site. It has a feature to clean up broken uninstalls in Control Panel. Question 2: Nah, coke's better!

To jorgen: don't just redo windows. Reformat the whole drive; this will cure everything.

To bcx7: WinME sucks. Its true. Especially for programmers.

To vbzero: That's only useful if you have incriminating evidence on your drive (hacked web site content, other people's files, illegal software, home-made viruses, etc.) In fact, that stuff doesn't even take up space on the drive. Don't believe me? Take a new HD, record its free space. Put a 4MB file on it, then delete the file. Record free space. Same! Hahah!

About hugging/kissing: that's what girlfriends are for. :rolleyes:

To Wen Lie: also try my tip earlier in this thread about Internet Explorer's temp. inet. files.

To everybody else: have a cool weekend.

Quote:

---

To bcx7: WinME sucks. Its true. Especially for programmers.

---

Question: On what grounds does Win ME suck?

Because there is CERTAINLY a difference in installing it plain (OEM) or upgrade it over an existing windows (Upgrade 9x).

I myself am running Windows Me (version 3000) from a plain install (no upgrade) and it runs very stable and is perfect for programming.

My windows installation is 4 months old now and I still haven't got the BSOD.

But..... Try to install Windows ME over Win98 or Win95 and you get most of the time a very unstable situation. Most Probable cause; DLL conflicts between Win98 DLL's and ME DLL's (The dll's ME doesn't overwrite)

So.. Please don't just go yell Win ME sux because you didn't install it correctly or have overclocked your computer to twice it speed.

If you really think windows me sux.. Proof it.

Any other ideas anyone?
I think that it will be also good if you would make those small nice utilities for yourself in VB which will take no more than 500KB and delete those big chunkey things.
Like make a Time utility (I made a really cool one so I can send you) and disablt the time in the system tray and it will save you a lot of time when booting.
I made some more small utiliies instead of those big commercial programs and I can send you if you want.

By the way, thanX Matthew for the advice.

My windows boots in... almost 6 seconds

(from Award logo to WinME Login screen)

As a Windows ME Support Professional, here are some tips to installing WinMe:

1) FIRST AND FOREMOST!! If performing an upgrade, uninstall ANY anti-virus protection software you have installed, this is the number one case that we get here. Sometimes you get away with having it installed, depending on the AV Options you have set, but usually it will ruin your installation

2) Save your Previous operating system files, then you can uninstall WinMe (which works surprisingly well) from \Windows\Command\uninstal.exe (one l)

3) I suggest a complete format before installing (note: if you have a Win98 Full Install CD, then you need not have win98 installed before you upgrade to WinMe, just have the Win98 CD Handy, and WinMe Setup will prompt you to insert it for a qualifying product. If you have a Gateway computer, and no Win98 CD (but you DO have a restore disk) then call MS Tech Support and ask for a Bypass Key (skips past the qualifying product portion of setup on a WinMe Upgrade setup disk)

3) If you have problems with setup locking up during hardware detection, and you are running an upgrade (despite my former suggestions)boot into safe mode (press F8 repeatedly during bootup, or hold down the CTRL key and then choose Safe Mode from the Boot Menu) and go into Device Manager. Disable each and every device in there, WinMe will update the drivers, and usually install new drivers, or just enable them. (Note: to disable a device, double click on it, and from the General tab at the bottom of the window, there should be two checkmarks, Disable in this Hardware Profiles, and Exists in All Hardware Profiles, uncheck the latter, or check the former to disable the driver. Some drivers cannot be disabled, don't worry about it, just go on to the next)

Nice }:)
What's with the bypass key? Commandline parameter?

Thank god we have a professional Tech Support guy in here!
ThanX for the advice, DrDave!

People, please post some more.
And I also want Megatron posting something here.
ThanX

I know we left this subject a while back, but I thought I'd tell you what I do:

The WALIGN program is pretty good, and it only takes a few seconds (if that!) to run. I have set the Task Scheduler to run WALIGN at system start up. You don't notice it working, but it helps to make everything faster.

I read somewhere that the best way to keep a computer is to leave it on all the time - 24 - 7. I know someone that wrecked their HD motor by turning their PC on and off a lot, rendering the HD useless! Like someone said, if you leave your PC on all the time, you can use the Scheduler to do Scan Disk and Defrag every week when you're asleep or at work etc...

I would leave mine on, but the fan keeps me awake!

Cheers,

Steve.

Well, I don't leave it on 24/7, I just leave it open for the day and close all night.
Besides, if I need to burn a CD or use one of the above apps then I leave it open over the night.

Oh and also, my uncle was at New York and he bought me something called:
"Deluxe Computer Toolkit With Zipper Case"
He bought it on "Radio Shack".
This thing just kicks ass to do some maintenance with your PC. I love it. It has everything!!!
Try it!

I said as much before, for one reason. No microsoft OS is worth programming until at least 4 service packs after the fact. Why? Because they don't know what debugging means. As far as I know, ME is too recent to have all its features in line, and my personal experience tells me the same. I hated Win95 until OSR2. I hated Win98 until SE. I hated windows 2000 until it worked right. I still hate ME because it still doesn't work. That's my reasoning.

If logic doesn't prove something to you, take Geometry over and learn about how to do proofs. It may help you in life.

I see on the forums all about this Windows ME, yet I have never really heard of it. What is it? By Microsoft? Is it like Win NT? Better/Worse? Give me details about it. I've seen few things on Windows ME, but never really became interested because everyone says it sucks. But I want to know about it. Share some information with me! And talk my language, don't go into a jumbled up language in which I can't understand.

Thanks :rolleyes:.

Windows ME is win98 Third edition,..

Only add's are:
More drivers
Booting up only takes about 5 secs ;)
No more Dos Mode; Just Dos prompt

and it's really stable if installed properly ;)

- First OS that doesn't give me BSODS -

so.....

mlewis: "I still hate ME because it still doesn't work. That's my reasoning. "

^ Tried it? How did u install it.. lemme guess.. you installed it over your Win95 OSR2 release.. found out it didn't work and just concluded.. Win ME Sucks eh?

Dude.. let me tell u; Win ME is Win 98 SE only twice as stable. Okay; it can crash.. but so can Win2K, WinNT, Linux and any other OS.

But.. I'll give ya a chance to win ;)
--

What system spec did u install Win ME on?
What was installed before you installed..
What version did you install? Beta? (anything under v3000) or Retail, Oem... etc

On what basis did it suck?

--

Yeah, i've heards ME sucks too, but now when you say that it never gives you any BSODS... Hmm also I have an AMD machine so do youthink it's worth a try?

Must admit, I have Windows Millenium Edition (installed over the top of Windows 98SE) and I have had absolutely no problems with it whatsoever.
I can't say that it's brilliant however as I've not really noticed any substanstial improvements over 98SE. (which hardly ever crashed either.)
Some people have said that ME sucks big time when it comes to running development software on it? Well, I have VS6 Ent running on it and have experienced no problem.
Overall, if you have 98SE then don't bother with ME as it really does not offer that much more for the price you pay for it.

oh well, that's my opinion anyway! :)

What about the startup time? My comp takes a half minute to start up in 98SE, that sucks! Also can you uninstall it later like win98 upgrade can be downgraded back to win95?

Start up time is faster but only marginally (on mine anyway!). You can revert back if you want, just make sure that when you install ME that you save existing config when asked.

Hmmm...
I get a little freaked out when deleting anything in windows or /system....

so it's Ok if I delete all 806 of these fff47b0f_{B45FBF21-8F01-11D4-A856-0010B509E4D8}.tmp files????????


danke!!


Dennis

Go kill em Dennis, and then do a defagging ans see what happens ;)

I can say that just running software like VS6 doesn't mess up any Windows too bad ('cept maybe 3.11 :rolleyes: ) But I have lots of projects that don't just run VS6--they screw with the internals of Windows, the CPU registers, the private RAM space of programs, everything. Try this on ME and it all goes to heck.

Another good reason: without DOS, diagnostics is moot. There are thousands of viruses that require you to be in DOS to clean them -- no can do from DOS window. I use DOS for all kinds of problem fixing on my clients' machines, and without it, Windows is as good as horse crap.

Finally, ME sucks just because its a user-centric, no-fun-to-exploit, boring, lame, simple OS. I like being able to get dirty in an OS ("personalization")

So, from my perspective at least, ME sucks.

[Edited by mlewis on 10-22-2000 at 10:50 PM]

Hello I just wanted to get across my two cents.

Firstly, S@NSIS said earlier to use Norton disk utilities. I think I would still use Microsoft’s defrag because it’s made by Microsoft and the operating system is made by Microsoft. Microsoft know how their operating system works like the back of their hand so they can make more powerful programs than other companies (they know what all the secret API calls and other features hidden) This is the same reason why I use IE instead of Netscape. This is what I think but maybe the other companies programs are more powerful.

I recently had a problem with my hard drive. Scandisk found about 5 MB of lost clusters. Some where from the windows directory. It screwed my computer - nothing would run, it’ll show the ‘illegal operation’ dialogue or so called ‘BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH’. I formatted my HDD and installed win98 again and now it’s pretty stable. This is probably because I didn’t Scandisk/Defrag for ages. The only time it actually ran scandisk is if it didn’t shut down properly. When I got around to doing a surface scan, it found all of this. I couldn’t be stuffed doing defrag or scandisk because it took to long. But now I know to do it about 2 weeks and do it while I goto school. (I didn’t think about that idea.)

But there’s a problem with leaving my comp on while I goto school. In an earlier post I said I had two comps. The IBM does the job of defrag/scandisk fine (but takes a while - 3 GB HDD, by the way this is the computer that had the problem). I can leave this computer on while I goto school because it doesn’t complain when it gets too hot. On the other hand, my AMD has a motherboard (ASUS motherboard) that monitors the temperature of the CPU and the motherboard (inside the casing). When they get over a certain temperature the PC Speaker screams constantly and the power light flashes. It then slows down the CPU to cool it down. It then returns to normal when the temperatures get to a safe level. This computer is missing a fan on the chassis of the case, but there is no spot to put one. The power supply fan doesn’t do much and the CPU fan is just blowing hot air onto the heatsink/CPU. (The whole point of the chassis fan is to get rid of the heat that the motherboard/CPU makes.) This computer is not overclocked if anything it’s probably underclocked (if there is such a word) because it has a crappy 16-bit ISA sound card in it that slows down the bus system and my IBM 200mhz comp gets into windows faster stuff like that (could also be a slow HDD also). I read somewhere or heard that your computer slows down to the speed of the slowest thing in there. Even if it’s not true - an ISA card in a 500mhz comp!

This computer has an ATX power supply and maybe I could make a prog in VB that switches off the computer when it finishes defrag but I have a problem. How could I make the program detect when defrag is finished defraggin’

Ok heres a list of programs that are incorporated in win98 (some in win95) and what they do:
(Type these into the run dialogue - some might already have a shortcut in the start menu)

Msconfig - edit some different settings such as what starts up when you turn on your comp.
Walign - sorts your progs to load faster
Winipcfg - see your ip address online or on your network
Winver - tells you your version of windows
Regedit - edits your registry
Winfile- the old win 3.11 file manager (it installs with win98/95 - it did for mine)
Winpopup - send popup messages to other users on a network
Progman - old win 3.11 program manager (it installs with win98/95 - did for me)
Mkcompat - tool for running old progs in new versions of windows
Regsrv32 - registers OCXs and other things
Sysedit - edit your system files
Sfc - checks your system files

If you got more, then I’d like to hear them.

I downloaded TweakUI of the Internet http://www.download.com and you can change heaps of settings in that (like clear ‘find all files history’ and about another 40 or so options)

And to finish - to crash a Windows machine, in the Run dialogue or the Find All Files thing, type C:\NUL\NUL and press OK. It will show the Blue Screen Of Death and crash explorer.exe (in other words - freezes the comp, requires reset). It works on win95/98 - try it on your operating system. This is one problem that I don’t think Uncle Bill can get rid of.

I call Bill Gates, Uncle Bill (just for a bit of fun)

Thanks for reading/listening

Bye All

I also now a little trick to speed up the PC.

Just open the register and go to the following Key

"Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\run"

Here you have all the programs that start when you login on your computer. Win 95/98/98se/ME/2000 all have ScanReg in this section. Removing this wil increase the startip speed by 20%(Depending on the number of progs there are on your PC). Also a lot of other programs put something here.

When you use a lot of shareware software this section could list a lot of programs that you don't need because the shareware program has already been removed. Now you can do it manualy.

Also in at least Win 95/98/98se you have the Config.Sys and the Autoexec.bat. When you delete these files your computer still works fine and it about 5 procent faster in the running and on some pc the startuptime is decreased by 10%.

Yeah, as long as you have io.sys and msdos.sys, you computer will still boot without autoexec.bat and config.sys.

i deleted them on both of my machines and my friends computer and they all work fine (i got win98 and my friend has win95)

and it's good you regulate what gets loaded every time you login - save heaps of ram and resources.

thanks.