BuddTX
Flashlight Enthusiast
In Another Thread, I was talking about how stable my Windows 98SE is, and I started to talk about other software that I use that seems to make my OS more reliable and stable.
I thought I would share my resources with yall, and hopefully you would do the same.
Just to give you a philosophy on me, I still think in "DOS" where less is better. Even though many things are supposed to run in a multi tasking world, I still think LESS is BETTER, so you won't find a million things in my Windows startup.
Also, my experience is based on my work PC, that I use 8-12 hours a day, so it gets a good workout, and is on a Novell Network.
Cacheman
Years ago, I found, got excited over, and actually purchased a program called MemTurbo. While I still love the concept of what this program does, I found that my system was unstable and ran slower with Memturbo on it, and found that it worked better with it not on my system. Then I found Cacheman. It keeps your computer feeling like it has just been re-booted, and optimises the caches for best useage. I have used this program for years, and found that it is VERY stable, and really seems to make a difference. They are making a NT/2000/XP only version that will run as a service, making it even more stable but is not released yet). It is free, but will accept donations.
I use Cacheman daily, on W98SE, NT4.0, NT Server, NT Workstations and windows 2000, with no problems at all!
NOTE: Just to be clear, I do NOT USE MEMTURBO, nor do I recommend it. That is based on personal experience. It wasn't Horrible, it just was not as rock solid and transparent as I would like in a program.
Of course there is Symantec Norton Utilities and Norton Anti-Virus
I actually met Peter Norton, many years ago, when it STILL was Norton, not Symantec. I use the Utilities, just because I have been using them since Nu version 3.5 for DOS! Almost all the functionality has been duplicated by windows now, but I still think that the Norton Speed Disk, Norton Disk Doctor and Norton Unerase work a little better than the windows counterpart. Who knows? BUT you absolutely need Norton Anti Virus! And I find that it does not get in the way, and that is important. Of course, you have to buy this, but I have seen demo versions on download.com.
For many years, I despised ANY Anti-Virus software on any PC, I just felt it was un-necessary resources, but sadly, in today's world, an Anit-Virus software program is something you have to have, and Symanted Anti-Virus is, for me anyway, very stable and transparent.
Total Commander (Used to be Windows Commander)
Years ago, Norton came out with a DOS product, way before Windows 3.1, called Norton Commander. It was a DOS SHELL, and there were others, PC Tools and XTREE, and both had their fans, but I liked Norton Commander. I used it for years, even after Windows 95 came out.
Well, I was not alone in liking this program, even though Norton abandoned it long ago. Someone took the concept of the Norton Commander, and developed it for Windows, and unlike the DOS counterpart, this program kept on growing, getting better, adding more features, etc. Not a day goes by that I do NOT use this program.
It is a combination of WinZip, Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), LapLink and probably many other utilities that I do not even know. I find that it works better. I really depend on this program a lot! What is nice, is that you can configure the user interface to be a standard Windows interface, or use the old Norton Commander keys, or any combonation of the two.
Task List programs and What they do, and are they necessary?
Great web site! Ever do a CTRL-ALT-DELETE and look at the programs that are running in your "freshly booted" version of windows? This site tells you what they do, and if they are necessary! Very nice, to tweak your system to get as few programs running as possible.
Of course, included with most Windows is MSCONFIG, to let you choose what programs will and will not start up.
For Picky programs that seem to start up anyway, even if you uncheck them in MSCONFIG, I use a nice program called START/STOP, but the company that made it TFI stopped distributing this free program. Another similar program is StartEd by OuterTech, (the same people that wrote Cacheman).
I use this program, because programs like Quicktime and Real Player and others seem to work their way back into my startup, even if I disable them, or edit them out of the registry. I hate stuff showing up, esp when I delete them.
Speaking of Registrys, This site used to be called regedit.com is GREAT for researching anything about your registry.
The ONE THING I have not yet found (any help would be appreciated!) is a way to LOCK the position of the START task bar in W2K. People at work move the task bar around, on purpose, just to get others riled up.
Active Sync Toggle
For those of you that use Hand Helds, Palm Pilots, Pocket PC, or similar, you will love this program. Here is a discription:
===============
ActiveSync... that wonderful Microsoft program for synchronising data between your PDA and PC. It loads itself automatically, syncs your PDA with your PC, then sits there, patiently waiting to synchronise any piece of data that you change.
So why the need for ActiveSync Toggle then...
Well, annoyingly (at the time of writing) Microsoft have yet to include a facility to 'Load ActiveSync at Startup' or even an 'Exit' option from the System Tray Icon. If, like us, you don't sync your PDA every minute of the day, it means ActiveSync is sitting around in memory using up valuable resources. Even more annoying is the fact that if you try to remove the registry entry that automatically loads ActiveSync, it very kindly adds it again (as long as it's running) meaning it always stays open.
ActiveSync Toggle allows you to either load or unload ActiveSync from memory whilst also removing the registry key that automatically loads it upon starting Windows.
==================
Of course, there is SpyBot and Ad-Aware, and I find both to be useful. It is amazing how many spy programs or links or cookies or whatever I find whenever I run these two programs. It is almost as necessary as an Anti-Virus program.
Let's not forget Microsoft's own TWEAK UI for 95,98,Me, Nt, or 2000 or Windows XP PowerToys.
IRFANVIEW
This is a graphics and media player. I like it better than any other player, I find it simple and quick, yet powerful.
My newest addition, and I am really suprised that I like this, is the Google Toolbar with Popup Blocker.
I really like this product, it is free, it blocks those damn pop ups, and puts google right on my toolbar, and has options to NOT SEND info back to google!
TClock - Finally, a usefull, customizable clock for Windows!
Shutdown Service 2.01
Not on MY PC, but I've installed this on many other PC's at work so that the PC will re-boot or shutdown without user intervention.
I have others, but then I am getting into less used, less tested products and sites, and I wanted to keep this to things that I use all the time, and have been stable and reliable for me.
Hope this helps and I look forward to your posts!
I thought I would share my resources with yall, and hopefully you would do the same.
Just to give you a philosophy on me, I still think in "DOS" where less is better. Even though many things are supposed to run in a multi tasking world, I still think LESS is BETTER, so you won't find a million things in my Windows startup.
Also, my experience is based on my work PC, that I use 8-12 hours a day, so it gets a good workout, and is on a Novell Network.
Cacheman
Years ago, I found, got excited over, and actually purchased a program called MemTurbo. While I still love the concept of what this program does, I found that my system was unstable and ran slower with Memturbo on it, and found that it worked better with it not on my system. Then I found Cacheman. It keeps your computer feeling like it has just been re-booted, and optimises the caches for best useage. I have used this program for years, and found that it is VERY stable, and really seems to make a difference. They are making a NT/2000/XP only version that will run as a service, making it even more stable but is not released yet). It is free, but will accept donations.
I use Cacheman daily, on W98SE, NT4.0, NT Server, NT Workstations and windows 2000, with no problems at all!
NOTE: Just to be clear, I do NOT USE MEMTURBO, nor do I recommend it. That is based on personal experience. It wasn't Horrible, it just was not as rock solid and transparent as I would like in a program.
Of course there is Symantec Norton Utilities and Norton Anti-Virus
I actually met Peter Norton, many years ago, when it STILL was Norton, not Symantec. I use the Utilities, just because I have been using them since Nu version 3.5 for DOS! Almost all the functionality has been duplicated by windows now, but I still think that the Norton Speed Disk, Norton Disk Doctor and Norton Unerase work a little better than the windows counterpart. Who knows? BUT you absolutely need Norton Anti Virus! And I find that it does not get in the way, and that is important. Of course, you have to buy this, but I have seen demo versions on download.com.
For many years, I despised ANY Anti-Virus software on any PC, I just felt it was un-necessary resources, but sadly, in today's world, an Anit-Virus software program is something you have to have, and Symanted Anti-Virus is, for me anyway, very stable and transparent.
Total Commander (Used to be Windows Commander)
Years ago, Norton came out with a DOS product, way before Windows 3.1, called Norton Commander. It was a DOS SHELL, and there were others, PC Tools and XTREE, and both had their fans, but I liked Norton Commander. I used it for years, even after Windows 95 came out.
Well, I was not alone in liking this program, even though Norton abandoned it long ago. Someone took the concept of the Norton Commander, and developed it for Windows, and unlike the DOS counterpart, this program kept on growing, getting better, adding more features, etc. Not a day goes by that I do NOT use this program.
It is a combination of WinZip, Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), LapLink and probably many other utilities that I do not even know. I find that it works better. I really depend on this program a lot! What is nice, is that you can configure the user interface to be a standard Windows interface, or use the old Norton Commander keys, or any combonation of the two.
Task List programs and What they do, and are they necessary?
Great web site! Ever do a CTRL-ALT-DELETE and look at the programs that are running in your "freshly booted" version of windows? This site tells you what they do, and if they are necessary! Very nice, to tweak your system to get as few programs running as possible.
Of course, included with most Windows is MSCONFIG, to let you choose what programs will and will not start up.
For Picky programs that seem to start up anyway, even if you uncheck them in MSCONFIG, I use a nice program called START/STOP, but the company that made it TFI stopped distributing this free program. Another similar program is StartEd by OuterTech, (the same people that wrote Cacheman).
I use this program, because programs like Quicktime and Real Player and others seem to work their way back into my startup, even if I disable them, or edit them out of the registry. I hate stuff showing up, esp when I delete them.
Speaking of Registrys, This site used to be called regedit.com is GREAT for researching anything about your registry.
The ONE THING I have not yet found (any help would be appreciated!) is a way to LOCK the position of the START task bar in W2K. People at work move the task bar around, on purpose, just to get others riled up.
Active Sync Toggle
For those of you that use Hand Helds, Palm Pilots, Pocket PC, or similar, you will love this program. Here is a discription:
===============
ActiveSync... that wonderful Microsoft program for synchronising data between your PDA and PC. It loads itself automatically, syncs your PDA with your PC, then sits there, patiently waiting to synchronise any piece of data that you change.
So why the need for ActiveSync Toggle then...
Well, annoyingly (at the time of writing) Microsoft have yet to include a facility to 'Load ActiveSync at Startup' or even an 'Exit' option from the System Tray Icon. If, like us, you don't sync your PDA every minute of the day, it means ActiveSync is sitting around in memory using up valuable resources. Even more annoying is the fact that if you try to remove the registry entry that automatically loads ActiveSync, it very kindly adds it again (as long as it's running) meaning it always stays open.
ActiveSync Toggle allows you to either load or unload ActiveSync from memory whilst also removing the registry key that automatically loads it upon starting Windows.
==================
Of course, there is SpyBot and Ad-Aware, and I find both to be useful. It is amazing how many spy programs or links or cookies or whatever I find whenever I run these two programs. It is almost as necessary as an Anti-Virus program.
Let's not forget Microsoft's own TWEAK UI for 95,98,Me, Nt, or 2000 or Windows XP PowerToys.
IRFANVIEW
This is a graphics and media player. I like it better than any other player, I find it simple and quick, yet powerful.
My newest addition, and I am really suprised that I like this, is the Google Toolbar with Popup Blocker.
I really like this product, it is free, it blocks those damn pop ups, and puts google right on my toolbar, and has options to NOT SEND info back to google!
TClock - Finally, a usefull, customizable clock for Windows!
Shutdown Service 2.01
Not on MY PC, but I've installed this on many other PC's at work so that the PC will re-boot or shutdown without user intervention.
I have others, but then I am getting into less used, less tested products and sites, and I wanted to keep this to things that I use all the time, and have been stable and reliable for me.
Hope this helps and I look forward to your posts!
