rec.autos.simulators

 I'm upgrading my system and getting Windows ME with it. Are there any problems
with ME and running sims? I had heard there was. Thanks.

WinME has a bunch of enhancements designed to safeguard your data and
configuration, but they are real resource hogs and should be disabled if you
play games.  Other than that it is more stable than any version of Win9x I
have used.  Others have had different experiences.

~daxe

All the new "Enhancements" over 98 simply slow the system down and have to
be turned off, which defeats the point really. Even fully teaked it still
uses twice as much memory as 98, 64mb is the absolute minimum to run it and
I'd recomend 128mb whereas 98 needs 32mb and is very happy with 64Mb. If
you've got 128mb of ram or more then you should really be running Win2k Pro
which is much much better. Compatability wise I've got far more old games to
run on Win2K than I've managed in WinME.

There is just no point to ME at all. If you're sensible go get 2000 and if
you really need to run a 16bit OS stick to Win98SE as that was the best of
the bunch.

--
Some Call Me Tim

    -Phasor

=^..^=

"But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was
nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into
a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

Andi.

PS Is there anywhere that lists all these 'bits' in ME that can be turned
off?

1. Disable System Restore.
Open Control Panel -> System -> Performance Tab -> File System - >
Troubleshooting area -> Disable System Restore
(While you are in this window click on the Floppy Disk tab and uncheck the
box so the system doesn't check for a NEW floppy drive every time it
starts.)
~~
2. Uninstall Pc Health.
Start / Run  "\windows\pchealth\support\pchsetup /uninstall"
~~
3. Turn off Automatic Updating. (This will hog your modem for 30
mins every day when you first go on line if you don't turn it off.)
Start / Settings / Taskbar / Advanced
then check Expand Control Panel and close and go to
Start / Settings / Control Panel / Automatic Updates  and turn OFF Automatic
Updating
~~
4. Use ram memory rather than the swap file. (The system needs OVER 64 megs
of ram.)
Start / Search / Files  type and enter: "system.ini"  then click on it
and open it in Notepad and add this line after [386Enh] (without quotes)
"ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1"
~~
5. Set file system to cache about 20 times higher than its default
setting. Copy and paste these lines to Notepad and name the file
MaxCached.reg then click on MaxCached.reg from Windows Explorer and say
Yes you want to add that information to your registry. (You must
set Notepad to "all files" when you save it or it will save as text.)

-------------------------------- copy
below ----------------------------------
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS

"NameCache"=hex:00,18,00,00
"PathCache"=hex:80,00,00,00
------------------------------- to
above ------------------------------------
~~
6. Disable these settings in the start menu.
Start / Run  type and enter:  "Msconfig"
then click on Startup  and  UNCHECK PcHealth, StateMgr, SchedulingAgent
and Taskmon Then allow the system to reboot so all these changes will
take effect.
~~
7.  Run Windows Explorer and click on Tools / Folder Options / View and
select "Show hidden files and folders"  then  browse the c: drive and
delete the _Restore  folder.  Hold your shift key so it doesn't move it
to the recycle bin while you press del. This folder can have hundreds of
megs of temp files if you have been running ME for a while with the
system Restore and PC Health on. If you get an error message saying
there is a sharing violation you haven't successfully turned off Pc
Health and Restore. The _Restore folder should NOT appears again in the
future (unless you update a key Microsoft program like IE).
~~
8. See if anything unnecessary is running all the time.
Press CTRL + ALT + DEl  at the same time, after you have first booted
up and see what programs are loaded. You may find several programs running
that don't need to run all the time. Most of them, if actually needed, can
be loaded from the Start / Programs menu.
~~
9.  Don't let windows run HTA, SHS and VBS Script automatically.
Those file associations allow viruses to infect your system. Open
Windows Explorer and click Tools / Folder Options / File Types and
delete HTA, SHS and VBSscript. It is very unlikely a normal PC user
would need those file associations turned on.
~~
10. Disable "Automatic check for Windows Explorer updates"
From the IE "Tools" menu click on "Internet Options" then go to
"Advanced" and uncheck the 4th box.

EVERY week back up modified files, defrag the system and update the
definitions and scan the whole system with your favorite anti-viral
program. Run Ad-Aware to fight the spying that a least 100 programs are
known to do. (I do this mainly to save the baud width wasted by the data
and banner ads that are passing back and forth.)

--
Ian P
<email invalid due to spam>

--
Ian P
<email invalid due to spam>

Don't do it! you'll regret it, stick with Win98Se or find some win2k drivers
for our wheel if possible.

--
Some Call Me Tim

--
Ian P
<email invalid due to spam>