Windows 98
Post Setup Tips
(C) 1999 by CptSiskoX@FlashMail.Com

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DISCLAIMER: Use at your own risk, author assumes no
responsibility for any consequences of using this
information which is provided as-is and has no
warranties implied or otherwise.

After installing Windows 98 and/or Windows 98 Second Edition,
there are several small adjustments, refinements, and tweaks
that can be used to improve response time, system performance,
etc.  This document attempts to address many of these
items.  Many of these items will also work for Windows 95
computers, but the general focus is on Windows 98 and Windows
98 Second Edition.


Tweak Recycle Bin
Right-click on the Recycle Bin on the Windows 98 desktop.
Left-click Properties and place the dot in Configure Drives
Independently.  Click (C:) and adjust the slider as desired.
I recommend doing this for all your hard drives and removable
disks.  When finished, click Apply and then OK.  This will
give you more disk space as needed and desired.  I use
3% which is 61.4 megabytes on a 3.2 gigabyte hard drive,
but your settings may vary, depending on your needs and preferences.

Enable DMA Mode for Hard Disks and CD-ROM Drives
If you have a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that supports DMA Mode,
you can increase the speed of your hard disks by allowing them
direct memory access.  If you are not sure if your drive(s)
support this configuration check with your drive maker or
system vendor.  Do not use it unless you are certain it will
work on your system.  To enable it, right-click on My Computer
on your desktop and left-click Properties.  Click Device Manager
and click CD-ROM or Disk Drives [depending on which
you wish to enable or disable DMA on].  Select your drive and click
Properties, Settings, DMA.  Warning: This may not work on some
systems and/or with some drives.

Adjust Typical Role Settings
To speed up caching of disk drives and improve
performance, right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties,
and click the Performance tab.  Click File System and change
Typical Role of this Computer to Network Server.  Also set
Read-ahead optimization to Full.  This does not require
you to be on a computer network and works on standalone
machines as well.

Disable Floppy Search
Right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties, and click the
Performance tab.  Click File System and on the Floppy Disk tab
uncheck Search for a new for a new floppy drive each time your
computer starts.  This way, Windows will not search for a new
floppy disk drive every time it boots up, thus speeding up the
boot time and will use the previous settings.  You should undo
this if you install a new floppy drive or have problems with yours.

Speed up CD-ROM Access
Right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties, and click
the Performance tab.  Click File System and on the CD-ROM tab
turn the Supplemental cache size to large [slider to the far right
side] and set to Optimize access pattern to Quad-speed or higher.

Speed up Removable Disks
Right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties, and click the
Performance tab.  Click File System and on the Removable Disk
tab, place a check in Enable write-behind caching on all removable
disk drives.  Disable this option if you have problems after enabling
it.

Get Latest Windows Updates
Click Start, Windows Update.  Select Product Updates
from the options that come up [please note that this requires
an Internet connection].  Check the items you wish to
download and install and follow the on-screen instructions.
Microsoft posts bug fixes, updates, patches, and other items
to this website.

Configure Scheduled Tasks
Click Start, Run, and type "TuneUp"  [no quotes].  Windows 98 will
open the Maintainence Wizard which will allow you to set options
and scheduling for automatic sessions of Disk Defragmenter,
ScanDisk, and other maintainence tasks to keep your system
in tip-top shape.