Optimizing a comp for 1 program

[evilhomer 0]

I would like some tips on how to optimize my laptop for a single program (WinVu!) I will be running it 24/7, and only running that, nothing else on win95, so if you have any tips on how to optimize my comp for running a single program (besides closing all other useless processes) please post them here.

[CUViper 0]

One trick is to replace the "shell" line in system.ini with the program you want. By default it reads "shell=Explorer.exe" - but you could change it to "shell=C:\WinVu\WinVu.exe" (or whatever). Be aware that this will really limit your computer to running this one program, so the times when you would use this are pretty specialized. Oh, and make sure you know how to reset it to explorer.exe using dos, because once you make this change, Windows won't be able to do anything else.

[evilhomer 0]

Clarification? When i rename shell line to winvu, do i need to reboot, will i be able to run any other programs?

[CUViper 0]

Yes, you will need to reboot, and no, you will not be able to run other programs. That's why you have to make sure you know how to change it back without using windows programs. You'll have to boot to dos mode and edit it back manually.

 

This "technique" will let you give as many resources to the program as possible, but you are basically giving up the ability to multitask. I knew people who would do this to get a little higher framerate from games, but it's kind of a pain to have to keep editing the system.ini file.

[sapiens74 0]

You could also shutdown ever other process, so when winows starts up its running bare minimums

[Davros 0]

After I posted this I realized you are running Windows 95, so this may not be an option for you. Still it is interesting.

 

You could use task manager to increase the process priority by right clicking on the process. You can also start the program with increased priority using the start command.

Open a command prompt and type start /[priority] [program]. Where [priority] can be low, belownormal, normal, abovenormal, high, or realtime. Avoid using realtime, you may not be able to change it back.

If you wrote a batch file to start your program winvu, it would look like this:

 

start /high winvu.exe

 

That's it. Just put that batch file in the same folder as winvu or whatever, and then make a shortcut to it to your desktop or wherever you prefer. Make sure the batch file is in the same folder as the program you want to run, or the full path is specified in the command, and there are no typos. Take into consideration dos 8+3 file names. If it doesn't find a program to run, it will open up a few hundred command prompt windows. If that happens to you, don't freak, just wait until they stop and kill it in task manager.

[clutch 1]

Umm, nope. No priority options in the 9x OSs.

[JP- 0]

Sorry if this sounds really insulting, but....whats the point. Any change you make can surely only provide the most tiny performance difference.

[CyberGenX 0]

Quote:

Clarification? When i rename shell line to winvu, do i need to reboot, will i be able to run any other programs?

Yes you will be able to run other programs. Just minimize WinVu and double click on the empty background. Task manager (old win 3.x - 9.x) comes up and from there you can choose Run Task or Open Program (something like that).

[evilhomer 0]

I'm extremely confused now?! Which OS provides the ability to replace explorer in system.ini, which os provides the ability to run with priority!?

 

I'll probably be running win95, but maybe ill consider installing 98.

[CyberGenX 0]

Any 9.x kernal (not sure about ME)will do the system.ini trick. ONLY NT based OSes will allow priority. GO with 98SE.

[CUViper 0]

Quote:

Yes you will be able to run other programs. Just minimize WinVu and double click on the empty background. Task manager (old win 3.x - 9.x) comes up and from there you can choose Run Task or Open Program (something like that).

Really? Wow, I've never tried that. Not that I'm gonna install 9x to try it, but that's good to know nonetheless...

[clutch 1]

I only did that when I was playing other shells back in my Win95 days. I first read the trick he mentions in a performance tuning article for NT 4.0 Server by MS. It mentions killing the explorer.exe process in order to regain memory (of course this was in the time where 486s were still being actively used as print servers, and it would "encourage" the upgrade from NT 3.51 since there were concerns over the performance drawbacks in the version upgrade) from the OS. Then, you just bring up taskmanager and manually kick off explorer.exe again or most other apps for that matter and go back to work.