One of the most common things I have seen which negatively affects the performance of a computer is when a person has all kinds of things running in the background, most of which is activated on startup. This is a common problem. You have to work hard to keep programs and portions of programs from hogging you resources.
Go ahead...check to see some of the things you have running in the background. Close all your programs and press CTRL / ALT /DEL in Windows 98. Do you even know what all those things are? Is the System Tray (the space of your Taskbar at the bottom right-hand corner next to the clock) filled with lots of icons. Do you know what each of those are, what they do and how they got there?
If you don't you are not alone. It's not your fault. Vendors desperate for a piece of your business shove their products in front of your face at every turn. Some of the more agressive ones I can think of off the top of my heard are:
AOL
Real Player
Creative Labs SoundBlaster
MSN Messenger
And we have all seen Comet Cursor appear mysteriously at one time or another even though we did not ask for it.
But these vendors are smart. The things you see with CTRL /ALT / DEL are only the most obvious applications running. There are more. Sometimes tons more. Windows 98 users go to Start / Run / and type in MSCONFIG. Look at the tab called Startup. Surprise.... all that stuff starts up and is running in the background every time you start your computer. Do not start unchecking those things yet unless you know what you are doing . You may regret it.
I'll post again tomorrow about how to find out exactly what each and every item is and whether it is needed or not.
For us XP and Win2k users, I can show you how to reach this MSCONFIG window that we all liked so much in Windows 98. It is there but is a matter of activating it. No time now.
By cleaning up your system, removing unnecessary things from starting up in the background, you may find that you have less problems and that your machine will run faster and more efficiently.
[This message was edited by igotout on January 07, 2003 at 23:33.]
Zix, that (Windows key + E) is THE best way to get to Explorer and a tip I just discovered last year. I prefer it mostly because it opens a collapsed version of Windows Explorer. It is very practical.
Now, as to cleaning up the startup group, these are recommended steps.
Right click (or double-click) on each of those icons in the system tray (the area of the taskbar by the clock) and open each of the associated programs one at a time. Check each of their options/preferences/configuration (whichever applies) for an option that reads something like "allow to run in system tray" or "allow to run/load at startup" and disable that option.
That will take care of many of them. For the windows controls, things like mouse controls, display controls, volume, etc., go to Control Panel and check under the various applets. Most of these have an option to run or not run in the system tray.
Next check the startup folder. StartProgramsStartUp
and remove shortcuts to programs that you don't need at startup.
You can also check the [windows] branch of win.ini by clicking start/run win.ini. See if there are any entries after load= and run=, if so edit them (as win.ini opens in notepad by default, you make your changes and click file/save) and leave those lines open (they should end with the equal sign). Those lines are generally open ended by design, but often times a program will place an entry in them. Then Reboot.
Now, for whatever's left (Don't do this first), we can use msconfig.exe. Start/Run/and type MSCONFIG.
Click on the Startup Tab and scroll through the list of entries. Everything with a check in the box is starting up every time you boot the system, whether you are actually using that program or not. These are usually the result of the program writers' arrogance as previously mentioned.
Uncheck the ones that you don't need running automatically. Win98 only needs scan registry, system tray, and the 2 entries for load power profiles. It is also generally accepted that you leave the virus scan entries (2 or 3 depending on your AV program) alone. Some Mice need to have an entry checked for proper performance. EVERYTHING else is optional.
Note that this does not uninstall or remove any program from your system, it merely prevents them from loading at boot, each of them can still be run from it's start menu entry or .exe file in the program folder.
When you are done, click apply/ok/ and restart as instructed for the new settings to take effect.
The reason we do this step last: If a program has an option within itself to load or not load as part of the startup group, then disabling it in msconfig, rather than within its' own options/preferences/configuration, will cause the program to rewrite that entry. This causes the often seen "duplicate" entries in the startup tab of msconfig.exe.
WIndows 2000 and 98 users, to get MSCONFIG working on your systems click here: MSCONFIG
Not sure what some of the items in MSCONFIG mean? You are not alone. I am convinced this is by design by the pesky vendors who put those things there in the first place so you can not easily turn them off permanently.
No problem. I found a neat web site that has alphabetically listed hundreds of these entries with clear explanation as to what they mean and wheter they are needed. Click here and bookmark this useful site: Startup list
I hope this helps someone to free up the resources of your computer by getting rid of all the junk that can cause problems and conflicts.
This one is for windows XP and for those who are not uncomfortable going into the registry. You must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrative rights to do this. Backup your registry if you are uneasy about changing the registry. I believe XP keeps track of previous good registry settings somewhere as well in case you mess up.
This is for XP and Windows 2000 Users. For previous users of Windows 98 who have now switched to XP or 2000 there is a valuable tool you need to use frequently to see what is happening in your system both good and bad. It is called Event Viewer.
There are a number of ways to get to it but a simple one is to go to control panel and click on Administrative tools. From there click on Event Viewer.
In the left pane click on System. In the right window you will see lots of information. Enlarge the windows and expand the columns so you can read things clearly.
Do you have any Red X's...Errors listed there under recent dates? How about any yellow triangles which are warnings? If you do then you need to investigate why. This sometimes can help you trace down some serious errors that may be happening behind the scenes without your knowledge.
Your goal is to have a clean Event Viewer with no warnings or errors. You may get occasional warnings or errors if something goes wrong here and there. But you want to avoid having repetitions of the same errors and warnings over and over.
Click on the Event and you will find information. Take note of the Event ID #. Search on Microsoft's Knowledge Base by entering in this Event ID# as the search parameter. You may find a clue about the error and what to do about it. If not, post it here and we may be able to help find some info about it.
A cool free utility from Microsoft is called Tweak UI.
It provides access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows default user interface. There are many settings and options that you can only set from Tweak UI.
You can setup your mouse to your liking by setting click speed, hover sensitivity, etc. You can also customize many Explorer settings, taskbar settings, My Computer settings, and a wide variety of other settings. One of my favorites settings is to adjust how fast the menus in windows pop up. I like them to be very fast.
All these settings can also be accomplished by going into the registry but it is much easier to do by using Tweak UI. Bear in mind that Microsoft does not support this free product. But I have never had any problems using this utility.
All users except Windows XP go here to get this useful tool: Tweak UI
Download it and install it. XP and 2000 users....you may need administrative rights to adjust or change some of the global settings which may affect all users.
What operating system are you using? Are you on a network, other computers connected to yours? Are yuo sharing an internet connection? Can you state exactly what the error in event viewer reads?
Others may know more but I do not think you need dhcp. I forgot what it stands for right now but with more info I can try to find out what the error message means.
Krys: DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a long name for a relatively simple idea. Every computer has to have a unique address so the net knows where to send and pick up data, like your street address or your phone number.
DHCP is a way for your service provider to share a pool of these addresses, rather than assign a unique one to every subscriber from day one. So, when you log on to your ISP, instead of sending out "It's 192.168.0.1 again, log me in!" it sends out "I'm logging in again, what's my address this time?" and the computer responds "Ok, in this session, I will address all traffic for you to address 192.168.0.136, so listen for that one."
All this happens behind the scenes so you rarely have to bother with it. It's good for the ISP because they are charged by the data-carrying provider by the range of addresses they use. Since few folks leave their computer on 24/7, they get to use a smaller range and recycle the addresses for those who are connected at any given time, rather than pay for a zillion addresses that only get used 5 minutes a day to read email.
Your error is probably due to some minor network configuration error and is more or less harmless if you can log on to the net. Don't lose any sleep over it!
You are on an internet site, say.... making a post on GreaseSpot. You open an email which contains a link to some other site you want to see and suddenly your post is no longer visible because your browser went to anohter site.
Wouldn't it be nice if the link instead opened a new browser window so you weren't taken away from the page you were on?
You can easily do this. Open Control Panel and go to Internet options, then click on the Advanced tab.
Scroll down to the section called Browsing and look for an entry that says " Re-use windows for launching shortcuts".
Uncheck that option, click apply then OK.
Now your browser will do this. I personally feel as if this ought to be unchecked by default but it is not.
Do you use Outlook Express for your email? Here is a site you should bookmark. It is a non-Microsoft site that tells you everything there is to know about every detail of Outlook Express:
For example do you know how to back up all your email messages and your address book? Do yo know how to transfer ALL your OE settings to a new computer to make it exactly the same as it was on your old computer complete with all your old email messages? Do you know how to perform Maintenance on your OE folders to prevent a slowdown or loss of archived messages?
This site has it all including a handy search feature. It is known that even Microsoft technicians refer to this site to find out information. Excellent if you really want to clean up you Outlook Express and make it work most efficiently.
The Internet Explorer cache gets 2 to 3 percent of your hard drive by default. This small percentage adds up to 600MB on a 20GB hard drive and up to 3GB on a 100GB hard drive.
Lower this setting by opening the browser and going to Tools/Internet Options and clicking on the Settings button. 200 to 300MB is a recommended size.
By default the Recycle Bin eats 10 percent of your hard drive. That's a whopping 10GB on a 100GB hard drive. A recommended setting is to take either 500MB or 1 percent of your disk whichever is larger.
You should know how to open a monitoring tool called Task Manager so you can view what kind of usage you CPU is getting when you are using certain tasks. (This is for XP & NT, & 2000 users).
To open it:
Hold down Ctrl+Alt+Del, or
Hold down Shift+Ctrl+Esc, or · Right-click an empty spot down on the Windows Taskbar and pick Task Manager
Once Task Manager is running, click on the Performance tab. You'll see a live meter of your CPU usage, plus a rolling log of usage history. Cool, but you probably already knew about that.
Here's a trick I bet you didn't know.
Double-click on the label "CPU Usage" or "CPU Usage History." (In fact, you can double-click just about anywhere in the upper part of the dialog box.) All of Task Manager's menus and tabs disappear, and you're left with a simple, resizable box that includes the CPU meter and the usage log.
From that point you can:
Click and drag the corners to re-size this unobtrusive dialog box.
Click on the box and drag it to a new location.
Double-click the box to bring back the original Task Manager.
If you've ever wondered why your system wasn't responding, a quick glance at this unobtrusive version of Task Manager may well tell the tale.
I knew about the Print Screen key but I did not know about ALT Print Screen. Thanks. I have always wondered how to do that. But how do you turn the print screen shot into a JPEG?
It appears you are a Win 98 user. with your knowledge, have you ever considered going to Windows 2000 or XP? They're both awesome in my opinion and far superior to 98. If you email me I may have an extra "copy" of Windows 2000 that I could let you "have" for an evaluation if you would like. You can keep it for as long as you want to "evaluate" it.
Also have you considered trying to get rid of a few of those things in your System Tray? They have been known to hog resources. See my two part tip earlier in this thread> It's great information I got from elsewhere on how to determine if each item is even needed and how to turn them off permanently.
John R
[This message was edited by igotout on December 11, 2002 at 22:19.]
Well here's my desktop. It is XP Professional which looks a lot like Win 98 or 2000 on the surface. It might be hard to see because my resolution is set to 1600 x 1200 and it is a 21" monitor: My desktop click here
Hey lets start a new thread called "Show us your desktop"
My system loads System Commander at bootup, where I can boot to Windows 2000 Server, Linux, NT4, Win 98 or DOS. The system a dual processor system with 512 meg of RAM. And over 100 gb of hard drive capacity. I mostly use Windows 2000 because it utilizes both processors and multitasks much better than 98. However, NT4 is the most stable, but unfortuately it does not support USB.
I used XP for a while, but I found it rather slow and clunky compared to 2000 on my system, and I do not need all the bells and whistles that it provides.
With my system, memory and processor resources used by the system tray icons and their tasks are fairly insignificant to the system's performance. However, since 2000 does not have the MSCONFIG Utility like XP, there is an freeware program that I use to control what programs and tasks load at startup. It's really just a simple front-end to the registry to turn on or off unnecessary tasks or programs.
John, it seem like you may be a "tweaker" - so am I. Here are some things that might make a noticable difference in system performance.
First, you can tweak the BIOS settings in the system set up to speed up memory. SDRAM can usually handle a " CAS Latency" of 2 instead of 3. The "RAS to CAS Delay can also usually take a lower setting. A lower RAS Precharge Time can also speed up the system memory, but could make it unstable. A lower setting for SDRAM Precharge Time could also help but may cause also cause instability. You need to test for stability after each change.
If you are using RDRAM, I do not advise changing any of the defaults.
Also, with graphics, most programs that convert BMP's to JPEG's or GIf's, uses a conversion algorithim that causes degredation of the image. - This includes Paint, MS Photo Editor, MS Draw, and Adobe Photosuit. This degredation is especially true when converting a 24 bit bitmap to a gif file. They end up looking like crap. There is a program called ACD See, that does a great job of the conversion and image quality is maintained. ACD See comes with some scanners and can also be downloaded from the Internet.
(Sorry, me.) I had a feeling you were an expert from some of your posts. I will be having a few questions for you on a few things in the future if you don't mind.
I am using RDRAM on a few computers but SDRAM on several others. How do I try some of those BIOS tweaks you were suggesting? I do not recall seeing things like that in my Bios but will check again. You said:
First, you can tweak the BIOS settings in the system set up to speed up memory. SDRAM can usually handle a " CAS Latency" of 2 instead of 3. The "RAS to CAS Delay can also usually take a lower setting. A lower RAS Precharge Time can also speed up the system memory, but could make it unstable. A lower setting for SDRAM Precharge Time could also help but may cause also cause instability. You need to test for stability after each change.
I think I am beginning to agree with you about 2000 over XP. I use both every day and for whatever reason, 2000 seems a bit more stable and even faster. But I am all the way into XP on this machine. Too much work to format and reinstall 2000. Maybe future service packs will help. But both are better than 98 wouldn’t you agree?
GOEY, there is a way to have MSCONFIG in windows 2000. You just need a file. Click here: MSCONFIG FOR 2000
Finally - interesting about that picture degradation. What about a program I use called Thumbs Plus? It is similar to ACDSEE but seems to have loads of bells and whistles. It appears that you can do just about anything with it. Also a free download but I like it so much I purchased it. I have a lot to learn about digital photos and how to manage them. But lets start another thread for that some day.
JR
PS - Datway - are you using Webshots? They do the daily changing screens too. It is a cool and free program. But I like to turn off ALL their automatic features and use it manually. But they sure have an amazing collection, millions I think. Look for them to start charging a fee in the future
[This message was edited by igotout on December 13, 2002 at 11:38.]
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igotout
One of the most common things I have seen which negatively affects the performance of a computer is when a person has all kinds of things running in the background, most of which is activated on startup. This is a common problem. You have to work hard to keep programs and portions of programs from hogging you resources.
Go ahead...check to see some of the things you have running in the background. Close all your programs and press CTRL / ALT /DEL in Windows 98. Do you even know what all those things are? Is the System Tray (the space of your Taskbar at the bottom right-hand corner next to the clock) filled with lots of icons. Do you know what each of those are, what they do and how they got there?
If you don't you are not alone. It's not your fault. Vendors desperate for a piece of your business shove their products in front of your face at every turn. Some of the more agressive ones I can think of off the top of my heard are:
AOL
Real Player
Creative Labs SoundBlaster
MSN Messenger
And we have all seen Comet Cursor appear mysteriously at one time or another even though we did not ask for it.
But these vendors are smart. The things you see with CTRL /ALT / DEL are only the most obvious applications running. There are more. Sometimes tons more. Windows 98 users go to Start / Run / and type in MSCONFIG. Look at the tab called Startup. Surprise.... all that stuff starts up and is running in the background every time you start your computer. Do not start unchecking those things yet unless you know what you are doing . You may regret it.
I'll post again tomorrow about how to find out exactly what each and every item is and whether it is needed or not.
For us XP and Win2k users, I can show you how to reach this MSCONFIG window that we all liked so much in Windows 98. It is there but is a matter of activating it. No time now.
By cleaning up your system, removing unnecessary things from starting up in the background, you may find that you have less problems and that your machine will run faster and more efficiently.
[This message was edited by igotout on January 07, 2003 at 23:33.]
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insurgent
This is great information to have! Thank you for taking the time to do this for us!
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Zixar
Need to open Windows Explorer in a hurry? Hit the "Windows" Key and "E" at the same time.
Need to shrink all your windows to the taskbar at once to get back to the desktop? Use Windows Key+M.
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igotout
Zix, that (Windows key + E) is THE best way to get to Explorer and a tip I just discovered last year. I prefer it mostly because it opens a collapsed version of Windows Explorer. It is very practical.
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igotout
Now, as to cleaning up the startup group, these are recommended steps.
Right click (or double-click) on each of those icons in the system tray (the area of the taskbar by the clock) and open each of the associated programs one at a time. Check each of their options/preferences/configuration (whichever applies) for an option that reads something like "allow to run in system tray" or "allow to run/load at startup" and disable that option.
That will take care of many of them. For the windows controls, things like mouse controls, display controls, volume, etc., go to Control Panel and check under the various applets. Most of these have an option to run or not run in the system tray.
Next check the startup folder. StartProgramsStartUp
and remove shortcuts to programs that you don't need at startup.
You can also check the [windows] branch of win.ini by clicking start/run win.ini. See if there are any entries after load= and run=, if so edit them (as win.ini opens in notepad by default, you make your changes and click file/save) and leave those lines open (they should end with the equal sign). Those lines are generally open ended by design, but often times a program will place an entry in them. Then Reboot.
Now, for whatever's left (Don't do this first), we can use msconfig.exe. Start/Run/and type MSCONFIG.
Click on the Startup Tab and scroll through the list of entries. Everything with a check in the box is starting up every time you boot the system, whether you are actually using that program or not. These are usually the result of the program writers' arrogance as previously mentioned.
Uncheck the ones that you don't need running automatically. Win98 only needs scan registry, system tray, and the 2 entries for load power profiles. It is also generally accepted that you leave the virus scan entries (2 or 3 depending on your AV program) alone. Some Mice need to have an entry checked for proper performance. EVERYTHING else is optional.
Note that this does not uninstall or remove any program from your system, it merely prevents them from loading at boot, each of them can still be run from it's start menu entry or .exe file in the program folder.
When you are done, click apply/ok/ and restart as instructed for the new settings to take effect.
The reason we do this step last: If a program has an option within itself to load or not load as part of the startup group, then disabling it in msconfig, rather than within its' own options/preferences/configuration, will cause the program to rewrite that entry. This causes the often seen "duplicate" entries in the startup tab of msconfig.exe.
WIndows 2000 and 98 users, to get MSCONFIG working on your systems click here: MSCONFIG
Not sure what some of the items in MSCONFIG mean? You are not alone. I am convinced this is by design by the pesky vendors who put those things there in the first place so you can not easily turn them off permanently.
No problem. I found a neat web site that has alphabetically listed hundreds of these entries with clear explanation as to what they mean and wheter they are needed. Click here and bookmark this useful site: Startup list
I hope this helps someone to free up the resources of your computer by getting rid of all the junk that can cause problems and conflicts.
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igotout
This one is for windows XP and for those who are not uncomfortable going into the registry. You must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrative rights to do this. Backup your registry if you are uneasy about changing the registry. I believe XP keeps track of previous good registry settings somewhere as well in case you mess up.
Go to startRun type in regedit. Then Navigate to:
HKEY_Local_MachineSystemCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory ManagementPrefetchParameters
Click on the key in the right window called EnablePrefetcher
Change its value from 3 to 5 to make programs open faster.
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igotout
This is for XP and Windows 2000 Users. For previous users of Windows 98 who have now switched to XP or 2000 there is a valuable tool you need to use frequently to see what is happening in your system both good and bad. It is called Event Viewer.
There are a number of ways to get to it but a simple one is to go to control panel and click on Administrative tools. From there click on Event Viewer.
In the left pane click on System. In the right window you will see lots of information. Enlarge the windows and expand the columns so you can read things clearly.
Do you have any Red X's...Errors listed there under recent dates? How about any yellow triangles which are warnings? If you do then you need to investigate why. This sometimes can help you trace down some serious errors that may be happening behind the scenes without your knowledge.
Your goal is to have a clean Event Viewer with no warnings or errors. You may get occasional warnings or errors if something goes wrong here and there. But you want to avoid having repetitions of the same errors and warnings over and over.
Click on the Event and you will find information. Take note of the Event ID #. Search on Microsoft's Knowledge Base by entering in this Event ID# as the search parameter. You may find a clue about the error and what to do about it. If not, post it here and we may be able to help find some info about it.
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igotout
A cool free utility from Microsoft is called Tweak UI.
It provides access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows default user interface. There are many settings and options that you can only set from Tweak UI.
You can setup your mouse to your liking by setting click speed, hover sensitivity, etc. You can also customize many Explorer settings, taskbar settings, My Computer settings, and a wide variety of other settings. One of my favorites settings is to adjust how fast the menus in windows pop up. I like them to be very fast.
All these settings can also be accomplished by going into the registry but it is much easier to do by using Tweak UI. Bear in mind that Microsoft does not support this free product. But I have never had any problems using this utility.
All users except Windows XP go here to get this useful tool: Tweak UI
Windows XP users get your version here: Tweak UI for XP
Download it and install it. XP and 2000 users....you may need administrative rights to adjust or change some of the global settings which may affect all users.
Enjoy
John R
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krys
what is dhcp # 102 I have plenty of those in my system error log! ugh!
I'll check further tomorrow...need sleep now!
Thanks for the insight.
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igotout
What operating system are you using? Are you on a network, other computers connected to yours? Are yuo sharing an internet connection? Can you state exactly what the error in event viewer reads?
Others may know more but I do not think you need dhcp. I forgot what it stands for right now but with more info I can try to find out what the error message means.
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Zixar
Krys: DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a long name for a relatively simple idea. Every computer has to have a unique address so the net knows where to send and pick up data, like your street address or your phone number.
DHCP is a way for your service provider to share a pool of these addresses, rather than assign a unique one to every subscriber from day one. So, when you log on to your ISP, instead of sending out "It's 192.168.0.1 again, log me in!" it sends out "I'm logging in again, what's my address this time?" and the computer responds "Ok, in this session, I will address all traffic for you to address 192.168.0.136, so listen for that one."
All this happens behind the scenes so you rarely have to bother with it. It's good for the ISP because they are charged by the data-carrying provider by the range of addresses they use. Since few folks leave their computer on 24/7, they get to use a smaller range and recycle the addresses for those who are connected at any given time, rather than pay for a zillion addresses that only get used 5 minutes a day to read email.
Your error is probably due to some minor network configuration error and is more or less harmless if you can log on to the net. Don't lose any sleep over it!
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igotout
You are on an internet site, say.... making a post on GreaseSpot. You open an email which contains a link to some other site you want to see and suddenly your post is no longer visible because your browser went to anohter site.
Wouldn't it be nice if the link instead opened a new browser window so you weren't taken away from the page you were on?
You can easily do this. Open Control Panel and go to Internet options, then click on the Advanced tab.
Scroll down to the section called Browsing and look for an entry that says " Re-use windows for launching shortcuts".
Uncheck that option, click apply then OK.
Now your browser will do this. I personally feel as if this ought to be unchecked by default but it is not.
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igotout
Do you use Outlook Express for your email? Here is a site you should bookmark. It is a non-Microsoft site that tells you everything there is to know about every detail of Outlook Express:
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/
For example do you know how to back up all your email messages and your address book? Do yo know how to transfer ALL your OE settings to a new computer to make it exactly the same as it was on your old computer complete with all your old email messages? Do you know how to perform Maintenance on your OE folders to prevent a slowdown or loss of archived messages?
This site has it all including a handy search feature. It is known that even Microsoft technicians refer to this site to find out information. Excellent if you really want to clean up you Outlook Express and make it work most efficiently.
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igotout
The Internet Explorer cache gets 2 to 3 percent of your hard drive by default. This small percentage adds up to 600MB on a 20GB hard drive and up to 3GB on a 100GB hard drive.
Lower this setting by opening the browser and going to Tools/Internet Options and clicking on the Settings button. 200 to 300MB is a recommended size.
By default the Recycle Bin eats 10 percent of your hard drive. That's a whopping 10GB on a 100GB hard drive. A recommended setting is to take either 500MB or 1 percent of your disk whichever is larger.
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igotout
You should know how to open a monitoring tool called Task Manager so you can view what kind of usage you CPU is getting when you are using certain tasks. (This is for XP & NT, & 2000 users).
To open it:
Hold down Ctrl+Alt+Del, or
Hold down Shift+Ctrl+Esc, or · Right-click an empty spot down on the Windows Taskbar and pick Task Manager
Once Task Manager is running, click on the Performance tab. You'll see a live meter of your CPU usage, plus a rolling log of usage history. Cool, but you probably already knew about that.
Here's a trick I bet you didn't know.
Double-click on the label "CPU Usage" or "CPU Usage History." (In fact, you can double-click just about anywhere in the upper part of the dialog box.) All of Task Manager's menus and tabs disappear, and you're left with a simple, resizable box that includes the CPU meter and the usage log.
From that point you can:
Click and drag the corners to re-size this unobtrusive dialog box.
Click on the box and drag it to a new location.
Double-click the box to bring back the original Task Manager.
If you've ever wondered why your system wasn't responding, a quick glance at this unobtrusive version of Task Manager may well tell the tale.
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Goey
If you want to capture an image of what's on your screen, do this.
Press alt-print screen. Press both keys at the same time.
Then open up Paint or another graphics program, click edit and then paste. This will paste an image of the "active window" into your program.
If you want to capture the entire desktop press ctrl-shift-print screen.
This can be useful when capturing error messages, or scren shots of various parts of programs, etc.
[This message was edited by Goey on May 23, 2003 at 14:32.]
[This message was edited by pawtucket on June 10, 2003 at 22:21.]
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ChattyKathy
Cool yall, thanks bunches.
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igotout
I knew about the Print Screen key but I did not know about ALT Print Screen. Thanks. I have always wondered how to do that. But how do you turn the print screen shot into a JPEG?
It appears you are a Win 98 user. with your knowledge, have you ever considered going to Windows 2000 or XP? They're both awesome in my opinion and far superior to 98. If you email me I may have an extra "copy" of Windows 2000 that I could let you "have" for an evaluation if you would like. You can keep it for as long as you want to "evaluate" it.
Also have you considered trying to get rid of a few of those things in your System Tray? They have been known to hog resources. See my two part tip earlier in this thread> It's great information I got from elsewhere on how to determine if each item is even needed and how to turn them off permanently.
John R
[This message was edited by igotout on December 11, 2002 at 22:19.]
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Zixar
John: Simple. Open up your paint program and click on the Edit/Paste menu. Then save it as a JPEG.
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L.B.
This is REALLY good information. And I don't have to read forty chapters of a book to get it!
Please send more.
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igotout
Thanks, Zixar. I knew it had to be simple.
Well here's my desktop. It is XP Professional which looks a lot like Win 98 or 2000 on the surface. It might be hard to see because my resolution is set to 1600 x 1200 and it is a 21" monitor: My desktop click here
Hey lets start a new thread called "Show us your desktop"
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DATWAY
Here's one of my daily changing screensclick me
disway datway anyway but that WAY.
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Goey
John,
My system loads System Commander at bootup, where I can boot to Windows 2000 Server, Linux, NT4, Win 98 or DOS. The system a dual processor system with 512 meg of RAM. And over 100 gb of hard drive capacity. I mostly use Windows 2000 because it utilizes both processors and multitasks much better than 98. However, NT4 is the most stable, but unfortuately it does not support USB.
I used XP for a while, but I found it rather slow and clunky compared to 2000 on my system, and I do not need all the bells and whistles that it provides.
With my system, memory and processor resources used by the system tray icons and their tasks are fairly insignificant to the system's performance. However, since 2000 does not have the MSCONFIG Utility like XP, there is an freeware program that I use to control what programs and tasks load at startup. It's really just a simple front-end to the registry to turn on or off unnecessary tasks or programs.
John, it seem like you may be a "tweaker" - so am I. Here are some things that might make a noticable difference in system performance.
First, you can tweak the BIOS settings in the system set up to speed up memory. SDRAM can usually handle a " CAS Latency" of 2 instead of 3. The "RAS to CAS Delay can also usually take a lower setting. A lower RAS Precharge Time can also speed up the system memory, but could make it unstable. A lower setting for SDRAM Precharge Time could also help but may cause also cause instability. You need to test for stability after each change.
If you are using RDRAM, I do not advise changing any of the defaults.
Also, with graphics, most programs that convert BMP's to JPEG's or GIf's, uses a conversion algorithim that causes degredation of the image. - This includes Paint, MS Photo Editor, MS Draw, and Adobe Photosuit. This degredation is especially true when converting a 24 bit bitmap to a gif file. They end up looking like crap. There is a program called ACD See, that does a great job of the conversion and image quality is maintained. ACD See comes with some scanners and can also be downloaded from the Internet.
Goey
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igotout
(Sorry, me.) I had a feeling you were an expert from some of your posts. I will be having a few questions for you on a few things in the future if you don't mind.
I am using RDRAM on a few computers but SDRAM on several others. How do I try some of those BIOS tweaks you were suggesting? I do not recall seeing things like that in my Bios but will check again. You said:
_________________________________________________________________
First, you can tweak the BIOS settings in the system set up to speed up memory. SDRAM can usually handle a " CAS Latency" of 2 instead of 3. The "RAS to CAS Delay can also usually take a lower setting. A lower RAS Precharge Time can also speed up the system memory, but could make it unstable. A lower setting for SDRAM Precharge Time could also help but may cause also cause instability. You need to test for stability after each change.
_________________________________________________________________
I think I am beginning to agree with you about 2000 over XP. I use both every day and for whatever reason, 2000 seems a bit more stable and even faster. But I am all the way into XP on this machine. Too much work to format and reinstall 2000. Maybe future service packs will help. But both are better than 98 wouldn’t you agree?
GOEY, there is a way to have MSCONFIG in windows 2000. You just need a file. Click here: MSCONFIG FOR 2000
Finally - interesting about that picture degradation. What about a program I use called Thumbs Plus? It is similar to ACDSEE but seems to have loads of bells and whistles. It appears that you can do just about anything with it. Also a free download but I like it so much I purchased it. I have a lot to learn about digital photos and how to manage them. But lets start another thread for that some day.
JR
PS - Datway - are you using Webshots? They do the daily changing screens too. It is a cool and free program. But I like to turn off ALL their automatic features and use it manually. But they sure have an amazing collection, millions I think. Look for them to start charging a fee in the future
[This message was edited by igotout on December 13, 2002 at 11:38.]
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