Windows Me - Optimize your memory, make it faster and more efficient

The software company from Redmond promised during development that the speed would be greatly improved compared to Windows 98. In plain language, this means that Windows works faster and more efficiently than in previous and alternative versions. The Windows Me administration of the Working memory is not very powerful and provides only minimal performance with many applications running simultaneously, which can be changed...

Unfortunately, Windows does not deploy its hidden secret weapons here and conceals its true speed from the user. There are a few ways to get the maximum speed out of Windows and release the annoying brakes. You will notice an enormous increase in speed as soon as you have applied the following tips.

In the important Windows file System.ini you can enter some settings that will squeeze the last resources out of your

To open this file, click on the start menu and go to "Executionlead". In the command line, enter "System.ini" field. The editor will now open with the contents of the file. For a better overview, I recommend clicking on "Full screen" button. Use the scroll bar to scroll down until everything under the line "[386Enh]" is visible, which belongs to it. Enter every command that indicated below as a single line. I have found the optimum values in the following...
PageBuffers=32
This setting allows the computer to use a large part of the working memory to store frequently used data on the hard disk. This value sets a fixed part of the working memory, which is better than the standard Windows setting: the operating system usually changes this size dynamically, which is not nearly as efficient as a fixed size.
If you have decided to use this tip, all you need to do is enter the following in the [386Enh] line the command PageBuffers=32 at the bottom, as described in the picture.

DMABufferSize=64
If you append this command under the [386Enh], a larger part of the working memory is used for input/output operations, which are carried out via hardware components. So if you often work with devices such as sound cards and a lot of data passes through here (audio processing) or you work in video editing, the performance is increased from 16 to 64 due to the increased memory area (buffer). 16 is the setting that Windows has selected automatically.
And this is what the command looks like:

ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1
This long command optimizes the Swap file from Microsoft Windows. Windows waits with the swapping to the hard disk until there is really hardly any memory left. Working memory is available, which has some advantages: For example, Windows used to start swapping even with 60 megabytes of free memory, thus throttling the speed. From now on, Windows waits until the end so that you can work longer and more efficiently.

MessageBackColor=8
This command has nothing to do with memory optimization. It allows you to set the background color in the event of crashes (blue screens with error messages). The number 8 means grey, which you can also replace with the following colors:

MessageTextColor=7
While you could comfortably adjust the background color above, you can change the text color here. The same color list applies as above. Both commands in the System.ini then look like this:

PerVMFiles=200
If you use this command, Windows Me retains the information (size, date, location, last access, etc.) of 200 files that you are currently using in memory so that this information does not have to be read in again. This command speeds up reading from the hard disk considerably because there is no need to access the information. And this is what the command looks like:

The most important system tuning measure in Windows Me
You can use the following command to individually adjust and enlarge the part of the working memory in which frequently used programs, drivers and files are loaded (called system cache) to your working memory. This setting is particularly important if you work intensively with Windows and, for example, play games or run many large applications.
The command is MaxFileCache=32786 and is not written under [386Enh] but under [vcache] The following table shows the appropriate numbers that you enter for your working memory.

If you have now entered the correct values for your system (they are always 1/8 of the available working memory in kilobytes), the section looks as follows:

Finally, a few important words
Once you have saved the file and restarted your computer, you will notice a significant increase in speed: Applications load and work faster, higher performance for frequently used files. The general handling of Windows Me also increases, as does the number of frames per second in games. I have tested each value in detail and was therefore able to clearly see the improvement in programs and games.

A few users have reported problems or even speed drops, which is why I recommend resetting the values one by one to find out who or what is the culprit. Please send me your experiences at hilfe@windows-tweaks.de to make it known.

NOTE FOR NEW PUBLICATION: This article was produced by Sandro Villinger and comes from the Windows tweaks archive, which has been built up since the late 1990s.