General Tips: Tweaking Windows 95/98/ME to achieve maximum performance.

Recent Changes: Added a new section, Miscellaneous Tweaks. Edited the required software list.

Note: This guide assumes you have an adequate understanding of how your PC works, a backup CD containing all your drivers, software, and important files, and the software I have listed below. If you're in any way afraid to perform any changes to your PC, then do not try these steps. I am not responsible for any damages you may incur or the consequences thereof.

Let's begin!

First off, you'll need all the software I list below. I've time-tested these software packages for over a year and a half and I can easily say that these are the best choices I have found for the tasks I needed done. Remember that if your software doesn't work with your new setup, you can always find a substitute that does.

REQUIRED SOFTWARE:
Drivers, Important Files, and other such data should be backed up onto a backup CD or spare partition!
Windows 95 prior to OSR 2.5
98lite 4.7 Professional (you'll have to find it on your own) - http://www.litepc.com/
Agent Ransack - http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/default.aspx
Crap Cleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com/
DirectX 9.0c Redistribution Package - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9226A611-62FE-4F61-ABA1-914185249413&displaylang=en
DirectX Prep INI - http://www.litepc.com/support/kb.cgi?view=51
Firefox - http://www.getfirefox.com/
X-Setup Pro 6.6 - http://www.x-setup.net/
.. and at least 1 (one) Anti-Virus program, 1 (one) Firewall program, and 1 (one) compression/archive utility.
RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE:
7-Zip - http://www.7-Zip.org/
AMSN - http://amsn.sourceforge.net/
Avast! Anti-Virus - http://www.avast.com/
AVG Anti-Virus - http://www.grisoft.com/
CloneCD - http://www.slysoft.com/en/
Irfanview (and the plugins) - http://www.irfanview.com/
Nero Burning ROM (came with my burner, dunno where you'll get yours)
Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
System Restore Remover Pro - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download516.html
TCP Optimizer - http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
Video Lan Classic Multimedia Player - http://www.videolan.org/
Winamp - http://www.winamp.com/
WinRar - http://www.rarsoft.com/


98lite is required for this process. If you don't have it or can't get it, too bad.

Okay, now that you have everything, you have to sit down for a moment and make a few preperations. Obtain any mandatory registration keys or serial numbers the free software may require. Make sure you have all your drivers and other such system files backed up on CD. Be sure that all the REQUIRED SOFTWARE is burned to a CD as well. You will also need one (1) standard boot floppy disk and one (1) 98lite floppy disk to begin installing Windows. You can follow 98lite's instructions on how to perform the latter. The first you should be able to manage.

Now, reboot your PC with the boot disk in the drive. Boot up into Minimal mode, and format your hard-drive. This could take several hours and you won't have access to this document, so you better print this off. Once your hard-drive has been formatted, reboot and start up with CD-ROM support.

Now, insert your Windows (substitute your preferred OS here) CD and run 98lite.exe from the floppy disk. Make your way through the splash screens and begin installing Windows with option number 1, Clean Install, with Windows 95 "Sleek".

Once it asks you, swap out your Windows ME CD and swap in the Windows 95 CD. It'll copy the files, and once it's finished, you may remove the CD. You are now finished with your Windows CD's, so put them away in a safe place for now.

98lite should begin installing Windows, and I suggest you set aside your boot floppy and choose Custom setup. Get rid of EVERYTHING from the list, except your audio/video codecs, Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Paint, and whatever else you feel you need.

Notice that you'll need only 200mb (or less) to install Windows now. Yeah. Pretty awesome, huh?

Install Windows and finish the mandatory five or six restarts. Once it has finished, begin installing your drivers, starting with DirectX 9.0c. First use the ini file to prepare your system for DirectX, and then begin the installation.

Once all your drivers are installed, start with your anti-virus and firewall software of choice. Once they're setup, proceed in any order and configure everything to your liking. Essentially, just go down the list and install each piece of software. Most of it requires little tweaking, save TCP Optimizer and X-Setup.

TCP Optimizer:
Just choose the best settings and hit apply, then restart.

X-Setup:
When you first open X-Setup, you may soil yourself, so put your Depends on and follow my lead. X-Setup lets you tweak Windows to your preference, so I can't really tell you what to change to what here, but go through each and every option and read the information on the right. Most of the time X-Setup will give you a recommended option or configuration, always follow their lead. X-Setup has a lot of Windows performance tweaks hidden in it, you just have to go slow and read all their information.

Now, if you didn't download a browser like I told you to, forget you, you're screwed. If you did, then congratulations, install it and get online. Download any and all updates to your software, not Windows. You will not be able to access Windows Update any more. Say goodbye to it, you're better off without it.

I suggest you install Adblock for Firefox, and begin blocking advertisements and images from sites. It will really help speed up your browser.

Enjoy the world of better computing, friend.



Miscellaneous Tweaks

Legend:XSP - Means that this can be applied using X-Setup Pro.
Caution! - Means it is a potential risk, and you should be careful.
For Users with 1 GB of RAM [XSP]

Find the [vcache] line in your System.ini in your Windows folder and add MaxFileCache=524288. It should look something like the code below.
quote:[vcache]
MaxFileCache=524288

Boost your CPU Priority Rate [XSP] [Caution!]

This will allow your processor to work with your programs at an accelerated rate. If your PC locks up after applying this, reboot in Safe Mode and undo the changes.

You'll need to locate the following line and add the DWORD "CPUPriority" (no quotes) with a value of 1 for FAST, 2 for REAL-TIME.
quote:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\BIOS



Got a recommendation for this list or tweaks you want to share? Then feel free to post them below. Questions and comments are of course welcome. Again, I cannot guarantee that this setup will work on your PC, and I am not responsible for any damages or the consequences that occur due to down-time or whatnot. Hey man, its your PC, you borked it, not me.

Wow this is nice, too bad i have Windows XP :((((

That's a really good guide, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I might try this on my old PC downstairs, it's running Windows ME.

quote:98lite 4.7 Professional (you'll have to find it on your own) - http://www.litepc.com/
are you too [IMAGE]ing lazy to find it for me?

Anyways, this is a good guide, but I installed windows 98 on my PC a few weeks ago (Windows XP wasnt working and I was trying to see if my settings were [IMAGE]ed or if the installation cd was corrupt) and then my computer would randomly restart. It turns out my new PC was too l33t for Windows 98 (I thought it might be a bad PSU.)

There's a shutdown/restart patch for Windows 98 that you need to apply in order to fix that issue, n00bface. You can get it from Microsoft's site or right here. It's for Windows 98 SE, though.

Edit: We don't support warez here, so I didn't post links to anything that wasn't "free".. it won't take you too long on the web, like I did. If you have a file-sharing service, then you've already won half the battle. That's all I'm going to say.

the only [IMAGE] thing about this guide is that i run XP :P