If you are unlucky, Windows may be taking 6 to 10 seconds on the instance called to TSRQuery (toward the end of the file) There appears to be no fix for this other than to perform a clean reinstall of windows, and there is no guarantee this unnecessary delay won't re-emerge. I did just this, and was lucky, but you may feel this isn't worth the candle. Update! If you have don't have a 'traditional' floppy drive, and have a zip, jaz or LS120 aboard instead, this may work for you. Go into the bios (Del key while starting,) and try and locate the onboard fdd controller option. Disable it, and (hopefully) you will have shaved off another 6 to 10 seconds boot time, as the TSR query delay will have disappeared.
Other boot hogs are VXD files. These are virtual device drivers, and though loaded by default, aren't always necessary. They are also notorious for causing crashes. To find out if they are necessary, move them each on at a time to somewhere safe, from VMM32 to floppy, and reboot. For instance, if the file you moved was vnetsup.vxd, when you reboot, windows will complain it can't find it, ask you to press any key to carry on. Do so, and if the loss of vnetsup doesn't impede normal operations, particularly Internet operations, delete it from the registry as with ndis2sup. If it does have problem with operations, simply put it back where it was, before you delete it from registry!!.
You can also check what vxd is being used where, by right clicking 'my computer', going into 'device manager' and selecting the properties of each device in turn. Choose the drivers tab, and press 'driver file details'. Here you will find a list of driver files, often including VXD files. Don't be afraid to experiment.
(Your system may possibly fail to boot or operate so badly that it is unusable. If this is the case press F8 when you boot until a menu appears. Select command prompt (4) and press enter. Select the drive where the backed-up file is. Then select the directory. For instance, if you moved file is 'thing.VXD' from your VMM32 directory in your system directory and you've put it in a folder called 'safe' on drive D:
Type `D:' (without quotes) then press enter
Type 'CD safe'
The prompt should now read D:\Safe>
Type copy thing.vxd c:\windowssystemvmm32
Press enter.
Type win
All should reboot properly again)
Repeat these steps with all files taking a while (over 3 seconds to load), and with any luck you should see an improvement in boot times. I dispensed with vnetsup, vnetbios, ndis2sup (NOT ndis.vxd, which the dial-up adaptor needs to initiate) vredir, vmouse and serial vxd(s) (my serial ports are not in use), which all loaded at start up, none of which were needed. By mistake I deleted ptserial.vxd, part of my modem driver, and had to reinstall all the software for my modem etc. Be careful.) I left vcomm.vxd which appears to handle the serial and parrallel ports.
Did I mention not to mess with ifshlp.sys? Don't mess with ifshlp.sys!
Now download registry compressor pro, and regcomp2 (FREE). Put regcomp2.exe in C:\windows. Run registry compressor. Registry compressor pro will only let you run five times in the demo, but once is probably enough, as you can use the freeware (regcomp2) version for maintenance. As it says, if the registry is optimised and compressed it will load faster.
Regcomp2 needs to run from dos. To do this unpack it, and copy regcomp2.exe to C:\windows. Now boot to DOS by restarting your system, then pressing F8 during the boot process. Select '4.Command Prompt' (without quotes). Then type 'CD Windows'(without quotes). Press enter. Type 'Regcomp2.exe' and press enter. Follow the on screen instructions, and go and have a coffee, as it takes a while. (I have updated the link so you can get the latest version direct from the author. He also advises us that if
you type SMARTDRV /X before running RegCompact it will be sped up many times.) NB. Do not reboot or power off during this process!
Media
One of the big selling points of windows ME is its multimedia handling. Well, 98SE is no snail when it comes to this area. It comes with media player 6, which handles most of the media that Media Player 7, and yet is nowhere near as greedy with resources. It is FREELY upgradeable to Media Player 6.4 which handles even more file functions you find in MP7. It is not as pretty as Media Player 7, but you can `skin' it (add prettier interfaces) with EFX or windowblinds. Audio media is far better handled by Winamp, (FREE) with far less system resources than MP7. There is now a beta version of Winamp 3 available. With winamp and MP6.4 you have all the functionality of MP7 with hardly any of the bloat. If you want to have MP7 it is FREE to download, and is given away on magazine covers. Ultraplay is snapping at the heels of Winamp to steal their llama furred crown. It executes very quickly, has a pretty interface, and plays video too.And it is free.
Windows Millenium Edition offers DVD support. So does Windows 98/98SE. Again, it is a feature not easily got at, but here's how. Put your Windows 98 CD in the drive, and type:
EXTRACT /A /L %temp% D:\WIN98BASE4.CAB DVD*.*
in the run box on your start menu.(This command assumes you cd drive is drive D:, substitute the appropriate letter for your drive where it says D: in the command). Now go to your C:\windows emp directory Dvdplay.chm, Dvdplay.CNT, Dvdplay.exe,dvdrgn.exe and Dvdplay.hlp. should all be in there. Move the .CHM, .CNT and .HLP files to C:WindowsHelp and EXE files to C:WindowsSystem. Create a shortcut to DVDPLAY.EXE where you want. Voila! A DVD Player for free. This assumes you have a DVD-ROM, DX media files 6, and a reasonably poky processor (333mhz +). The other thought here is a lot of DVD-Rom drives come with a software player when you buy them.
If a program you install overwrites a file and makes it unusable, or if a file is corrupted, the above command line can help. Just place the name of the file you wish to extract where it says 'dvd*.*.'
Another facility not native to Windows 98SE is Movie Maker. You can't download this or import it to Win98SE (yet), but there are more versatile programs FREE such as Axogon Composer, or even better, ABC video roll, from ABC studios. MPEG.ORG do a wide range of free and shareware video utilities. Most reviewers see Movie Maker very much as a taster to what video recording is about.
Digital Cameras
Apparently, windows Me has a new control panel applet with which you can directly import from cameras and scanners. This is not new at all, it was hidden in 98SE, but can be enabled with the use of TweakUI. Modern art and multimedia programs GIVEN AWAY with scanners and cameras allow you to import from these sources, so this feature appears redundant already. Adobe offer a utility which also does the job, called active share. This is FREE, and apparently has more facilities than the native WinME facility. (Bye the way, some cameras still communicate with windows via a serial cable. This is seriously slow, and I have a USB card reader which very much faster.)
System Maintenance
One of the BIG drawbacks of 98ME is it's inability to boot to DOS. , but access to the command line is made very awkward so maintenance or work outside the Windows environment is nigh on impossible. For people new to computing, this is not a huge problem, but everyone will probably need to use the command line at some point, for scandisk and scanreg, if the system needs these for example. Bill Gates clearly doesn't see this as necessary. Some programs can't operate inside windows, (because to do so would be like performing open surgery on yourself) such as registry compressors. Older games may not work, because some do not operate within windows.
You have got a system recovery tool, but FREE system recovery tools, such as Bushido Back-up probably do the job as well Secure-Dat does a very similar job to System Restore, and again is free. The other big feature is automatic update. WinME will update itself while you are on-line. You may or may not find this attractive. Win 98SE does not offer this advantage, but, using the critical update tool (FREE to download) will look at your files and ask you which you want update. This gives you more control than in ME.
It is of course important to keep your hard disks as defragmented as possible in order to reduce file access time. Ideally this should be done weekly or even daily if you regularly work with large files. One area ME does score over 98SE is in it's scandisk and disk defragmentation. They are very much more improved and a lot faster, but they seriously needed to be. You can use these versions in 98/98SE. Here's how to get to them. You need to own the Windows ME disk to do this, so if you tried it and didn't like it, you can at least use these files. Insert the CD into your drive. At the run command on the start menu type:
EXTRACT D:\WIN9XWIN_16.CAB DEFRAG.EXE %windir%
and press enter. This will extract the defrag tool. Type:
EXTRACT D:\WIN9XWIN_17.CAB SCANDSKW.EXE %windir%
and press enter. This will extract the scandisk tool.
Another option is to use an independent defrag tool such as Vopt Millennium edition. This is free for a thirty day trial, and costs \\$40 (about £27) to use after that. It is seriously fast, and that is why I include it here, even though it is only a trial version. You could use diskeeper, the market leader. It can work out expensive, starting at around £35 (around $53) for a single user licence.
Internet
Windows 98SE came with Internet Explorer 5 and Windows ME comes with Internet Explorer 5.5, Microsoft's latest browser. This is FREE, and although very large to download, is 100% compatible with 98SE. It is also on the cover of just about every computer magazine. The download or CD copy is actually newer than the one in ME.
Windows ME comes with netmeeting 3.01 (3.1 is soon out) 3.01 is freely downloadable, and may be on the front of magazines as well. (it really is amazinfg what is on those cds!) If you use video chat or web conferencing, and find Netmeeting problematic or bloated, try CU-Seeme. It is much smaller, and some find it more effective.
The Microsoft instant messaging service is also FREELY available to download from Microsoft. Aol instant messenger is far more widely used, and also FREE.
Netscape
There is a lot to be said about Netscape. Arguably, it was the browser that took the net out of the ftp based geeks back bedroom (to mix my metaphors). Like many people, I have been awaiting version 6, which was to snatch the crown back from Internet Explorer. Alas, it seems this is not to be. I have used version 4 in it's many subversion forms, and personally speaking, have never got on with it. I was keen, therefore to put a link to version 6 to level a playing field with the ubiquitous IE. Here is said link, but I suggest you read the review before you commit yourself to it. (I have found going back to IE after netscape is unnecessarily difficult, because NS sometimes is very reluctant to drop the favourites association, even if no longer present on the system.)
Games
The `new' games that are include in 98 ME are mostly in the Games Plus! Pack. You can also play them at Microsoft's FREE game rooms. There are bags and bags of excellent FREEWARE games (Kyodai being one shining example) that beat the ones on offer in ME to a pulp.
Other free options include Galaxy Blasters, Solitude (90 or so card games in one suite), Eiffel Tetris and a suite of Microsoft's own games for trial. Not a game but very useful is AA route planner A to B Put start and end of journey, and it will plan the whole roulte (within the U.K) in a second.
DirectX
The other optimisation that WinME offer is the new DirectX 7.1 the windows native multimedia drivers. It was supposed to have retailed with DX8, and 7.1 appears to be a stopgap. The new version offers better support for on line gaming among other things, including voice communication. 98SE came with DirectX 6.0. DX7.0a has been around for download a while, and, guess what, DX8 is now available to download FREE.
Cosmetics
You can get the look and feel here for free at softcraft.
Altogether, even as third edition Win98 WinME offers virtually nothing not FREELY available anywhere else to use in 98SE. No wonder Microsoft are offering it cheap until December, when the price is hiked massively. Merry Christmas, Bill.
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