[Ham-Computers] Win 98 Garbage Collector

[jeff]

On Sat, 2005-07-23 at 11:54 -0700, Loren Moline WA7SKT wrote:
> One of the things I have always hated about Win 98 is that it will not 
> release resources back sometimes after use. 

it's not limited to just 98, but I highly recommend that if you're going
to stick with Windows, you upgrade to a more recent version.  I've made
it plain that I'm not a Windows fan, but the difference between 98/ME
and 2000/XP is quite significant.

98 is a complete PITA due to the way it's written.  It frequently needs
to be rebooted and even reloaded because it builds up junk over time.
There are certain things you can do to keep the buildup to a minimum,
but eventually you'll have to reinstall.

Aside from better memory management, with 2k/XP you'll gain stability.
If something crashes, you can get out of it without taking down the
entire computer (most of the time).

When I upgraded the 98 boxes at work to 2k, my department gained back
something like 60% of its time, which used to be spent on the floor,
rebooting 98 machines. [this is not to say that the geniuses haven't
found a way to foul up 2k and XP also]

It's worth whatever you'll pay, trust me.  I've found that XP will run
on just about anything over 400MHz, but you really need to stuff the box
full of RAM to get the most out of it.  I prefer 2000, but it actually
wants a bit more horsepower to run.



Trying to remember back to my 98 days, this routine used to be helpful:

1. scandisk and defrag regularly
2. clean out the TEMP, WINDOWS\TEMP, and WINDOWS\TEMPORARY INTERNET
FILES folders - this alone will bring back some speed
3. clean out any ~ or .tmp or ffff* files from the Windows folder.  If
you crash a lot, you'll have a ton of fff* files.
4. look through the folders in your PATH statement to make sure there's
no file buildup: the more files, the more files to look through to find
something or execute a command
5. check the root directory for junk files but BE CAREFUL - if you
remove critical files, the computer won't boot
6. watch for what starts up with 98 - it could be bogging you way down

and for everyone using any version of Windows:
Use a virus scanner and update at least weekly
Use a firewall if you connect to the internet, regardless of how
(www.zonelabs.com)
Use Opera or Firefox to browse and jack the security up (I turn off
javascript and cookies, but this may affect certain sites)




And if you're feeling adventurous, go to knoppix.net and download a free
cd that you boot up with into a completely functional linux system,
without disturbing anything on your hard drive.  When you're done, take
out the cd and boot back into your previous OS.


Be careful out there.


-jeff
CEO of Sarcasm
Chief Infection Officer
Thermionic Elitist