System Startup Virtual Memory
Managment Defragmenting Startup MenuCU-SEEME
WIN98 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND OPTIMIZATION
written by DV8
System Startup
Virtual Memory
Managment
Defragmenting
Startup Menu
Allow me to start out by saying Cu-SeeMe, regardless of whether you are using White Pine's version or Cornell's, uses a lot of system resources in order to transmit and playback video. The intent if this exercise is to make sure you have enough available resources free in order to make your cu-seeme experience an enjoyable one.
The very first thing you want to do is make sure you have no programs open when you start up your Cu-SeeMe software. If you have a web browser open or any part of an Office Suite open, it is going to decimate CU-seeme performance. I always recommend that you start out with a fresh boot. If you are using a dial-up connection, especially if it is only a 28.8 connection, DON'T open Icq or AIM! They will rob you of your available bandwidth.
In Windows 98 there is a little known utility that will help you clean up your system and improve performance. This is particularly necessary if you own a Hewlett Packard, a Dell or just about any other brand name system, as they all have this nasty propensity to load a bunch of useless programs at startup.
Here is how you fix that. What we are going to do is remove all the unnecessary programs from system startup. We are NOT removing any software, we are just going to keep the programs from loading when the computer first comes on.
System Startup
Click on the start button, then click on the run button. Type in the word "msconfig" in the run box as shown below (omitting the quotes, of course).
Next, click the OK button. The next screen will look very similar to the one below.
Now click on the Startup tab at the top of the box. The next pop-up looks like this.
You will probably have even more items listed than is shown in the box above.
Uncheck every item EXCEPT those items you see checked in the above example. I could tell you what each and every item shown is, but that isn't germane to this discussion.
Click the Apply button then click the OK button. You will be prompted to restart your computer. Click OK to that prompt and allow the computer to reboot before continuing.
Once the computer is up and stable (I use that term in its loosest sense) <g>, use the RIGHT mouse button and click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. Then click on "Properties" which will be at the bottom of the pop-up box.
This is actually a shortcut that takes you directly to the system properties.
Next, click on the "Performance" tab.
Now click on "Virtual Memory".
Click on the line, "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings".
Click in the Minimum box and set it to 128. Click on the Maximum box and set it to at least 256 but no more than 550. What this does is ALMOST guarantee you a contiguous swap file that isn't scattered all over your hard drive. This speeds up disk caching when your system runs low on memory.
Click "OK".
Once again you will be prompted to restart your computer. However, DON'T restart at this time.