Monday, February 5,  2001		Article

Tips & Tricks – boosting the computer’s performance
PART-4

IT is common to see that most of the computer-users aspire for high performance computers that is the latest in the market. However, the urge for best performance in computer is not matched by the urge for the high-performing operating system. Normally we do not give due thought and consideration to the issues related to the performance of the operating system and concentrate solely on the hardware part only.

Normally we all are biased about the word "best". However, it is a relative term and what is best for one person may not be for others. For example, during the selection of number of colours in the Windows operating system, as a common practice normally persons select the maximum number of colours in their desktop setting, which is usually, 24-bit colour and also opt for the desktop area of 1024*768 pixels. For all common application you cannot find any difference in 16-bit colours and 24-bit colours, but the selection of 24-bit colours makes the performance of the computer slow.

Since the computer takes more time to compute the higher number of colours, thus the performance of the computer gets slowed down substantially. There is thus an inverse relation between the number of colours on your desktop settings and the performance of the computer. Though you may require 24-bit colour also in some applications yet these applications are quite few in number. Therefore most of us sacrifice better performance for no better enhancement to the computer in the form of higher number of colours. Similarly, the area selection is also critical in the overall performance of a computer. If you select the desktop area of 1024*768 pixels, the performance of computer would be slower in comparison to the 800*600 or 640*480 pixel area.

I you have to do a lot of data processing and other high performance related jobs and then it is in your interest to keep the desktop area smaller and the number of colours to the minimum required. This would depend upon the requirement of the windows applications. Similarly, there is another setting, known as refresh frequency, which is detrimental to the overall performance of the computer. Normally as a default setting, the refresh frequency is set at 60 Hz.

There are many monitors available today that support refresh frequency of even 120 Hz. Normally, higher refresh frequency results into a better and sharper resolution. However, it reduces the performance of the computer substantially. The most ideal setting though is 60 Hz, but higher frequencies might be required in high graphics-oriented applications. In order to boost the performance of the computer, you can have the combination of 16-bit colour, 800*600 pixel area desktop and 60 Hz refresh frequency. You can change these settings by clicking the right mouse button on your desktop and then selecting settings. This will open the display settings window on the desktop, where all these changes can be made.

The performance of computer is actually multi-dimensional and there are many factors, which contributes to the better performance. For example, the hard disk performance. It is a matter of fact that the performance of hard disk is critical for the overall better performance of your computer. Through regular maintenance, the drive performance of the computer can be enhanced, but some fine-tuning can add value to overall performance. Since Windows uses look-ahead caching functions to help boost drive performance, therefore you can maximise the caching with the help of some settings. To do so, click on Start> Settings> Control Panel. Now open system and click the performance tab. Click file system and click the hard disk tab. Now set the read-ahead optimisation to full and under the CD-ROM tab, place the supplemental cache size slider at the largest setting and also set the access pattern for quad-speed or higher. This setting will not just boost the performance of your hard disk, but will also boost the performance of the CD-ROM.

Another area where a performance boost is essential is the system boot up. Normally people complain that despite having the most modern computer, their booting time has not reduced and is normally high. This common complain is not unjustified and is primarily due to some factors that can be addressed easily. In a majority of cases, the longer booting time is due to the network drivers, which includes LAN, dial-up networking etc that takes too long to load. However, if you do not require these drivers too often, then in order to prop up the booting time, you can disable them in the booting process. This will make a major difference. Though LAN has become an integral part of the computer system, yet in small office or in home environment it is not used too often. Thus, disabling these drivers in the booting-up process can help in boosting the overall performance.

Another possible reason, responsible for slower system boot up is not enough free disk space for a swapfile. Normally if you keep the size of swap file to its maximum, then it helps in improving the overall performance of your computer, including system bootup. Having higher RAM in is also a desirable factor. Another way of boosting the system boot up is to regularly defrag your hard disk; this is one of the most important functions, which has the capacity to boost your computer’s performance manifold.

Another factor, which is important for boosting system bootup and also the overall performance of your computer, is your attitude. Well! It may sound surprising, but it is the truth. It is common to see computer users installing games, shareware, fonts and lots of other drivers, which are not required at all by them. All these programs, fonts, games, drivers that are installed on the computer do their bit in slowing down the system boot-up. The habit of installing everything on the computer may prove fatal. Thus avoid installing memory-based drivers, including games, printer drivers, shareware programs, fonts etc as excess of them is fatal for your computers performance.

There could be some settings that can speed up the system restart process. One such setting is editing the MSDOS.SYS file, which is present in the c: of your computer. All you are required to do is enter a command, BootDelay=0 in the options section of the C:\ MSDOS.SYS. This will also help you gain around 10 seconds in your system boot-up process.

Though the importance of the latest hardware cannot be doubted for the peak performance of the computer yet fine-tuning and better understanding of operating system and other settings work as a catalyst.

—V.V