xp dude

I am currently running XP Home Ed., and will be upgrading to XP Professional as soon as I get

enough information to do an optimized installation, hopefully by this weekend.I will keep my

questions as brief as is possible, only giving enough information as is necessary (hopefully).

My computer is about 3 yrs. old, with a 500 Mhz AMD K6-2 processor and 393 Mb RAM, 40G h/d, 52x

CD Rom, 12x CD-RW, LS-120 SuperDisk in place of floppy. The motherboard and floppy are the only

original components from when I built it in '98. The motherboard doesn't recognize 256 Mb RAM

sticks, so all I get is 384 Mb in addition to whatever gives me the extra 9 Mb. I've done the

most recent BIOS firmware update. I know I should get a new one, and a new processor, but with

Christmas and all that won't happen soon. I will say that it operates very well with XP so far.

1. Video Card Driver- My video card is a Quantum Raven 3D that I bought in '98 when I

originally built my computer. I'm not a gamer, so the 16 Mb videoRAM is more than adequate for

my needs. The problem is that XP installed a driver for a Banshee card (same manufacturer as

Raven). I've had about 6 system crashes in as many weeks, and the system blames the Banshee

driver (redrawing error- usually when doing a Search in Explorer, twice while switching

screens). The system will not change the driver using the 'upgrade' feature, nor will it use

the driver I specify. Is there a fix or workaround for this type of problem?

2. Optimal Hard Drive Partitioning- I am currently running NTFS on both partitions. I have been

thinking of partitioning my drive as FAT32 for the system area (say 15G) and NTFS for the

storage area (the remaining 25G). This is because I have heard (but not confirmed) that Windows

(in general) runs faster on FAT32 than NTFS. Is this true? Anyone have any ideas on an optimum

hard drive configuration for XP Pro that balances efficiency with speed? I am very open to

suggestions.

3. Windows Services- I am trying to find out which Windows Services can be disabled without

affecting performance or usability. My computer will not be on a network, and I use a dial up

modem for internet connections. I have several very good firewall programs, and don't really

need to use the built in system firewall (I don't think, maybe someone will show me I do need

it, but that's why I'm here, to learn). Also, along the same lines, what are some of the

reporting services I keep hearing that XP uses to send information to Microsoft? If this is

true, I would like to know how to eliminate these features.

4. CD-RW- I love the CD-RW features of XP, but if I enable the system IMAPI then I sometimes

have problems with 3rd party CD-RW software, mainly after writing a disk with, for example NTI

CDMaker 2000, I experience one hell of a system slowdown, so slow that it takes about two to

three minutes to open the program menu from the start button. Is there a middleground for this

configuration? The system CD-RW is very handy for general burning, but sometimes I need to use

3rd party software. Also, along these lines, when I install, for example, Easy CD Creator 5

Platinum, my system would no longer offer to write to a blank disk when inserted. Is there a

toggle to return control to the system's software?

5. All Users- Is there any way to set the system up without the duplicate My Folders and Shared

folders and documents? I am the only user, and I don't like the additional clutter, or the

added aggravation of having to wade through two different sets of folders to configure my

Programs menu folder.

6. RamDisk XP Pro- Any useful tips, tweaks, or tricks for using this handy little program would

be greatly appreciated. I currently use it for web page caching. I wanted to use it with my

download manager, but unless I download with the system downloader (which is resumable now, a

great improvement, needs to be queue-able as well)then I get transfer errors trying to save to

the RamDrive. Well, let me qualify that, when I use GoZilla Plus 3.92 I get transfer errors, I

haven't really tried some of the other managers (if anyone knows a good d/l mgr, please let me

know).

7. XP Professional Clean Install- If anyone knows any other tips, tweaks, or information for

clean-installing and optimally setting up XP Pro ( I have the full version, not the upgrade)

then please let me know. Also, is there a site where I can update most of the updates and

patches for XP Pro and save them to disk?

I know this is an inordinate amount of questions, and I have searched around, but cannot find

answers. I really do appreciate the effort of anyone who responds to any of the questions, and

I thank you in advance.

DAZZ

dude, lower the questions

can't read all that

UniSol

I run XP on my PII 350Mhz 192MB Ram GF2MX, runs fine, did clean install XP Pro, you can find stuff around this webby to optimise things a bit.

G.Luck

UniSol

I think u will need a new GPU - I got a voodoo3PCI for sale

Speed4Ever

I'm all for trying to help people, but as DAZZ recommended, I would ask all these questions one at a time.

You get a better chance at people actually answering them.

pc_tek

yes, yes, no, yes, no, yes, yes, no, no, yes, and NO! lol

I concur with the other guys! Ever considered being an author?

just kidding ya! A 500mhz machine with all of that ram should run just fine.