WARNING! Questionable advise posted here

[Zandano]

Sorry guys. There is some good information available at speedguide. However, the recommended Vcache and Virtual Memory tweaks suggested at this website are false. They may be useful in Win95, but the ARE NOT recommended for Win98.
Win98 handles Virtual Memory much more efficiently than Win95 ever did. There is NO useful reason to set a maximum size to VM in Win98. Doing so can only cause the system to crash if you reach the max and run out of virtual memory. The maximum size should ALWAYS be left dymanic.
Tweaking the Vcache in Win98 will, in nearly all cases, reduce system performance. Win98 handles Vcache very smartly compare to Win95, and should be LEFT ALONE! If you need further assuarances, ask anyone at the microsoft.public.win98.performance user group.

[DWarrant]

While I cannot comment on the whole Vcache thing I will in regards to Virtual Memory. The fact is setting your virtual memory to a fixed size IS more efficient (effecient=faster) than allowing Windows to constantly change the size all the time based on needs at that time. By having Windows constantly resizing your swap file you are wasting clock cycles thus degrading performance. Now, If you find your computer crashes because of an out of memory message well then duh you set your swap file size too small. Simply make it larger. It may take one or two adjustments to find a size thats good for you but thats it. Of course if you know the programs you use are memory intensive or even 3D games then make it large to begin with. There are countless articles on the web in regards to this and they all pretty much say the same. It is better to have a fixed swap file. Heck, even Norton utilities does this throught the use of their utility called "Norton Optimization Wizard"

[Pest Control]

Yes. I have a partition just for my swap file. I have heard about putting your swap file near the front of the disk. I haven't gotten around to seeing if I can do that with PartitionMagic 4.0

[BubblyBabs]

When I formatted my HD I made sure I had one drive near the middle of the HD that was to be just for my windows swap drive (it is drive G http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/smile.gif... I only have 2 things on drive G:, the swp drive and my temp directory... This way drives c: thru k: use drive G:... Someone had suggested it would take the HD arm less time to go to the middle of the HD to use the swap file and I thought that a good idea... I also have Windows on E: drive and allow very little to go to my C: drive... Just an FYI on my part...

------------------
If you email me, add a "B" in front of "ubblybabs" or the email will bounce!

[henryb_00]

In regards to the Vcache and permanent swap file settings. Why don't you check out this site "http://epsilon.silicon.net.my/adrian/" (Adrian's Rojak Pot's homepage) for some more detailed informations. It includes articles about creating a permanent swap file, BIOS optimization and more....

Zandano is wrong about windows98 handling Vcache smartly. Setting the vcache is simply TO LIMIT the amount of memory windows will use for hard disk caching purpose. Windows often waste too much of the physical memory to cache harddrives and when we run memory intensive programs, we'll notice a big slow down. We can set a max limit to the vcache setting, but if we set it too large or too small, it will greatly degrade performance! Go to "http://www.outertech.com/english/index.html"(Cache Man's homepage) and download this freeware called "Cacheman". It has pre-defined settings such as, standard system, 3D Games, Mutimedia, and Powerusers for users to choose from.
I hope this information helps^_^