 Number 218 - July 2001 |
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| A Stand-alone Server? | ||
| from Harry's Mailbag The Tampa Bay Computer Society - Bits & Bytes - February 2001 | ||
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Question: I've
heard that I can improve system performance by calling my computer a
network server. I just have one machine, just what does this do, how do I
do it and should I do it?
Answer: Yes you should do it. What it does is to increase the size of the hard disk buffer so that more can be stored in it at a time, thereby increasing throughput. Here's how to get it done. Right click on My Computer and then click on Properties (usually near the bottom of the drop down menu). Click on the Performance tab. Now click on the File System button. From the dialog box that appears go to the Hard Disk tab, open the Typical Role of this Computer drop down list and select Network Server. Make sure that the Read-Ahead Optimization slider bar is set to FULL. On the CD-ROM tab, set the Supplemental cache size slider to Large. Open the Optimize access pattern for - drop down list and set Quad Speed or Higher for the |
CD-ROM. Click OK to close the dialog box.
Click on the Graphics button and set the Hardware Acceleration slider to
Full. Click OK. Click the Virtual Memory tab and verify that it is set
to Let Windows manage my virtual memory. Click OK. Click Close. At the
restart prompt, click Yes.
I realize that this procedure is slightly more than your question asked about, but while you are at the proper location, you may as well take advantage of all that is available to squeeze the most performance out of your system. Remember, it matters not that you only have one computer and are therefore not networked. I promise that I won't relay that information to Redmond. Don't forget that there is a very useful utility provided free with Windows 98. Familiarize yourself with Tweak-UI.
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Number 218 - July 2001
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