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| Why would we write an article for computer users?
Well, many of you have a computer that you use for email and chess programs.
Anyone who wants to run a chess program needs as much computing power as
they can get; and even high speed computers can have their resources drained
without the average user knowing why. So here’s some info about Microsoft
Operating systems to help you get the most out of your computer. |
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Computer Hardware Requirements
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| People often ask us what they should look for when
they buy a computer. If you're going to use a serious chess program
you need at least a 400 MHZ, Pentium 2 with 128 Megs of RAM. Systems with
only 64 Megs of RAM are crippled. A Pentium 3 is much better, as
is a faster processor. However, memory advantages tend to peak out over
256 Megs of RAM so there's no need to go above that. |
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The Operating System:
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| Windows 95 – This OS likes to give
“Illegal Function” calls a lot. We suggest you upgrade to Windows
98 if you want to run chess programs such as Fritz 6.0. However,
if you can’t afford Windows 98 you can upgrade all the bug patches for
free from Microsoft (shown below). |
| Windows NT – This OS was written for business
applications and is not very good for games or chess programs. |
| Windows 98 – The absolute best OS in our
opinion for running games and chess programs. |
| Windows 2000 – Replaces the NT version and
does not run games or chess programs very well. |
| Windows Millennium Edition – Unfortunately,
this new OS does not work well with many of the chess programs on the market. |
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Upgrading Bug Patches to your OS
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| Regardless of which Microsoft OS you use, you should
go to their web site and d/l the free patches that they provide for your
system. You can do this easily from Internet Explorer by clicking
on Tools and then Windows Update. The menus will show
you what patches can be downloaded for your computer. After they are downloaded
they will install automatically. |
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Backing up your system
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| You absolutely MUST back up all files on your hard
drive, including the operating system ASAP. If you have not done
this recently please do it now, before you try to make any changes.
Neither the MCA, Gary Fletcher or myself can accept any liability for you
destroying data on your hard drive. |
| On the other hand, we may be able to help you… |
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Let's Talk About Resources
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| Do a fresh reboot before running this test. Right
click the mouse on My Computer and then left click on Properties
and again on Performance. This will show you the percent of
resources you have available. Good is 92%. Anything below 84% is
bad! How can you have a fresh reboot and only have 84% of resources
left? Exit out of this and I'll show you. With no other programs
running enter your task manager. Windows 95 & 98 users can do
this by pushing down the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys.
This will bring up task manager and will show you what programs are running
in the background. You need 4 or 5 of these programs to run, but
you don't need 15 of them all running at once! |
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Power Draining Culprits
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| Windows requires certain programs to run at startup
but it has become common practice for software companies to install their
programs in your startup menu so that they will run automatically whether
you need them or not. The problem with this is that every program that
is running takes up resources. I have seen people do a clean reboot
and not even be able to run scandisk because they don't have enough resources
left! Programs like Real Player, Aol chat, Netzip,
Bonzo,
and many other programs are not required when you want to run a chess program
and they can be turned off from automatically running at startup. |
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Take Back Control of Your Computer!
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| For Windows 98: Click on Start, then
Run and type in the filename "MSCONFIG.EXE". When you run
this program you can go over to the menu at the far right hand side of
the screen. It's called the Startup menu. Don't mess
around with any of the other menus. We are simply going to see which programs
are set to automatically run at startup. |
| Notice the boxes on the left and the program descriptions
on the right. It is safe to uncheck the boxes for ICQ, Real
Player and many others if you are not planning on using them everytime
you start your computer. Do not uncheck boxes of programs that you don’t
know what they are used for. If you are not sure which programs you
can keep from running at startup, ask your local dealer or computer technician. |
| Once you discover which programs can be stopped
from running at startup you can simply uncheck the boxes at the left.
For example unchecking the box for Real Player will give you 2-4%
higher resources - the more you can eliminate the higher your performance
will increase. Understand that you are not deleting these programs - and
they will still run if you want to run them, they will just not be running
in the background when you don't need them. |
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Keep Your Hard drive Healthy
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| 1. Run scandisk at least once every two days. More than once
if you encountered any type of problem or glitch. |
| 2. Run the defrag program that came with Windows 95/98 approximately
every 12 hours of use, and ESPECIALLY before installing another program. |
| 3. If you own a virus detection program, use it regularly. If you do
not own a virus detection program, many good ones are available free for
download on the Internet or you can purchase one. Special note here:
A virus program will take resources away from your chess program – so you
can run it when on the internet and/or receiving email, and disable it
when you only want to run your chess programs. |
| 4. If you are running Windows 98, run Disk CleanUp every 2 to
3 days, depending on use. Disk CleanUp can be found, under
My Computer, right click on C drive, then properties. |
| 5. Occasionally, you might want to check devices under the icon,
My Computer and see if there are any yellow explanation marks or
red check marks through any of the devices, it indicates a conflict with
that device. |
| 6. Before accessing the internet, go into the Networking icon and disable
“I want to give others access to my files.”, and also disable “I want to
let others print to my printers.” (Unless you have a reason, like
a home network.) This is important to check into this, as it is turned
on by default in most versions of Windows 95/98. |
| 7. If you are connected to the Internet via cable modem or DSL, and
your computer is on, you are a potential target for computer hackers.
Even a virus program can not stop hackers from intruding thru an open port,
which you have with a cable modem. Since your IP address remains
open and never changes, hackers have MONTHS to hack your system!
If you want real protection from hackers I (Don) personally recommend buying
a hardware device. A hardware device such as the one listed below
won’t take any resources away from your processor, and will not allow hackers
to access your computer. It costs $88.95. More information
is available at: http://www.cc-inc.com/pcmall/shop/detail.asp?dpno=74582 |
| It’s called a DLINK GATEWAY, DI 701. I bought one after I was
hacked… you can save yourself a lot of grief by having one of these babies.
J |
