System Performance Hack

The following details how to greatly improve the performance and responsiveness of Windows 98 & Windows ME in less than 10 minutes. These changes can only be used with Windows 98/98SE and Windows ME. Also, they should only be used on a System that has 64MB (or more) of RAM.

1. Open Msconfig, select the System.ini Tab. Click the [+] sign next to [386Enh], and add the following line:

"ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" (without the quotes)

This setting forces Windows to use ALL of the RAM before it ever uses the Swapfile. Windows will still use the Swapfile if it needs to. By default, Windows will start Swapping well before the system is low on free Physical RAM. This has nothing to do with System Resources. However, this can make a LOT of those "Out of Memory " error messages go away and it really "wakes up" Windows.

2. After entering the line above, Click "Ok". Click "No" to restart when prompted. Right-click My Computer, select Properties. Click on the Performance Tab. Click on the Virtual Memory button. By default, Windows is set to manage the Swapfile (Virtual Memory).

3. Click on "Let Me Specify My Own Virtual Memory Settings"

By default, the Minimum Value will be "0" and the Maximum Value will be the amount of free disk space on the hard drive. The Values listed are in megabytes. It may show a negative value for values exceeding 32GB on older versions of Windows 98. Don't worry if it shows a negative value, it's just a cosmetic issue, we're not concerned about the Maximum size, just the Minimum. Setting a Minimum Value relieves Windows of the burden of having to figure out how big the Swapfile needs to be.

By having a Minimum Swapfile value set, there will be much less hard drive thrashing when opening programs, improving application load times, especially big 3D Games like Quake 3, Counterstrike, Unreal Tournament, etc. Big programs like Internet Explorer, Outlook, PhotoShop, etc., will definitely load quicker, too. Also, by not specifying a Maximum Value, we're allowing Windows to expand the Swapfile if it needs to.

Below is a chart for Minimum Swapfile values based on the amount of RAM installed. The Values listed pretty much guarantee that the Swapfile WON'T need to be resized under even the most strenuous use of the computer, which improves system performance.

Amount of RAM Minimum Swapfile Size

64MB - 256MB

128MB - 384MB

256MB - 512MB

512MB - 768MB

1024MB* - 1024MB


*Windows 98/98SE and Windows ME do not support more than 1GB of RAM, so there is no recommendation listed for System RAM exceeding 1GB.