Windows XP help

[Fifth_ace]

I just bought a new computer that came with XP (witch I hate) and I have some problems so I have 2 questions:

1-When I unpack some games I downloaded and run them, they lag bad, very bad. But on my older computer with windows 98 they run perfecly. Is there anyway to fix that proplem on XP?

2-I tried to install windows 98 on my new computer but it says I can't install it while windows NT is running but I can't seem to be able to reach MS-DOS with XP. Any suggestions?

[simon]

Sigh...

1-When I unpack some games I downloaded and run them, they lag bad, very bad. But on my older computer with windows 98 they run perfecly. Is there anyway to fix that proplem on XP?

2-I tried to install windows 98 on my new computer but it says I can't install it while windows NT is running but I can't seem to be able to reach MS-DOS with XP. Any suggestions?

Boot off the w98 cd. *shakes head*

how old are you?

thanks,
simon

[JoeSchmuck]

I just bought a new computer that came with XP (witch I hate) and I have some problems so I have 2 questions:

1-When I unpack some games I downloaded and run them, they lag bad, very bad. But on my older computer with windows 98 they run perfecly. Is there anyway to fix that proplem on XP?

a. Find the .exe for the game you want to play
b. Right click on it, and select properties
c. Click on the Compatiblity tab
d. Check "Run this program..."
e. Choose Windows 98 / Windows Me
f. Click OK and run it

Note that this may not solve your issue. Make sure that you uninstall all of the crapware that came preinstalled on your system.

2-I tried to install windows 98 on my new computer but it says I can't install it while windows NT is running but I can't seem to be able to reach MS-DOS with XP. Any suggestions?

You are not likely to get 98 to work right, even if you do get it installed. Companies don't write drivers for Win98 anymore...and there's a reason for that.

[flea]

windows xp doesn't have dos installed. You can howver get to a very dos like environment by going to start -> run -> and typing cmd

[astcell]

If you have too much stuff running your speed will die. Empty out your prefetch folder to get the speeds we all know and like. Taken From Microsoft Website - "Windows XP monitors the files that are used when the computer starts and when you start applications. By monitoring these files, Windows XP can prefetch them. Prefetching data is the process whereby data that is expected to be requested is read ahead into the cache. Prefetching boot files and applications decreases the time needed to start Windows XP and start applications." This information is logged and stored on your hard drive taking up space and requiring a process to be kept running monitoring which applications are being run. This has a performance impact on your PC. Disabling the Prefetch function or at least only enabling it for the Boot Files will allow you to free up some system resources and preserve some disk space.

[ndex]

killing superfluous XP services

Unlike Windows 98, XP runs with an NTVDM and Hardware Abstraction Layer. While the two OS may look vaguely similar they are not, at all. If you find yourself going "huh, I have no clue what this person is talking about" then stop here, don't proceed or you could really hose your system.

1. open the service control manager and/or determine what services are running (started/Automatic)
2. Using the service control manager, examine each service set to start automatically that is running - read the description to determine if you use the service. If you're not sure, skip it and go on to the next.
3. Determine which services you don't want running at all, verify that none of the services you require are depending on these services, set them to disabled and stop them.
4. Determine which services you don't need running all the time. Verify that none of the services you DO require are dependent on them; set them to manual and stop them.
4.5 reboot
5. (optional but strongly recommended) Run windows update until there is nothing more to update (critical service packs, updates and driver updates - all of it). If you're running a legal copy of XP you have nothing to worry about.

The default settings for XP run a huge block of services that a home user shouldn't need or want. If your machine is the only machine on your home net and you're not using a firewall between you and your dsl/cable modem - you definitely want to turn of NetBios over TCP and the computer browser service as they only make you vulnerable (2 out of many not needed for a standalone system).

To quickly see what services you have running, start->run-> "cmd"
then type "net start" - this will list all the currently running services on the system. You will find that by disabling services you don't need or want you will recover as much as 60M of memory that is used "by default settings".

In closing, while you may be more familiar with 98 and as much as I dislike M$, XP is vastly superior to 98 in every Windows respect. If you find, however, that you want to run DOS games, you might want to consider an older system for a game console. I throw them away all the time, look in a dumpster near you...

-ndex

[phobal]

I think the easiest thing you can do if you have network problems is to do the ever so simple command.com ipconfig/release; ipconfig/renew; ipconfig/all; ipconfig.

[NeoThermic]

You mustn't forget to turn off System restore, especially if you either
a) don't need it, or
b) don't have much disk space.

The quick todo:

• windows key + pause/break key
• Select the System Restore tab
• Check the little Turn off System Restore check box
• Restart

Also, turn off the indexing service for the hard drive that runs your games...

The quick todo:

• Find the drive that you want to disable the indexing service for
• Right click, select properties
• Uncheck the Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching box.

If the drive you just disabled indexing to is the only dirve in your system, then disable the service...

The quick todo:

• Start -> control pannel -> administrative tools -> services
• select the Indexing service.
• Stop it if needed
• right click and select properties
• set start up type to disabled.

Finally, some OEM versions of XP don't have DMA enabled for the hard drives.

The quick todo:

• windows key + pause/break key
• Select the hardware tab
• click device manager
• Find the Primary IDE channel
• right click and select properties
• Click the advanced settings tab
• On the Tranfer Mode drop down box, select DMA if avalable.
• Do the same for the secondary IDE channel if needed.
• Restart

That should speed up XP...

NeoThermic

[ndex]

I took a poll in the forums channel

phobal:
Everyone agreed I had a right to flame out for the suggestion that someone (anyone) use "command" in XP.

A bad 16 bit emulation of a broken 8 bit OS running in Win32 under XP only gets compiled for backward compatibility because there are people, like YOU, who don't know the difference and would get lost without it.

cmd != command

XP is not 98 on crack, it's NT on crack.

There are profound differences between the piece of crap that was 98 and the less vile piece of crap that is XP that I find I'm overwhelmed by the myriad of examples I could use to make my point.

Since there is absolutely no hope that I can avoid a mental core dump trying to explain all this to you I will resort to posting a sig line being used by a dear friend:

The solution is an OS that doesn't just load
everything that comes along. It's the digital
equivalent of walking around Times Square jabbing used
hypodermics into your arm.

-ndex

You have made me very sad and I wouldn't be surprised if you make the baby jesus cry.

[IcEbLAze]

You can also try setting your desktop backgrounds, toolbars, etc to classic mode, or disable the theme service, that will kill alot of used resources, also, how "new" is this new computer? have you done all the updates? if so, there is a problem with directx 9 running on older hardware that makes your computer freeze up or bog down tons while playing 3d type games. check to see if you have directx 9 in there or not, if you can, remove it, and try to find a website where you can get 8 from

*EDIT* another thing, if you've upgraded this from windows 98, and you have a fullversion, install the fullversion. And if you've just used the install that came default with the new computer, reinstall a clean version.
IcEbLAze

[Techknow_Shaman]

It is possible to reach a Dos-like enviornment in XP, it just isn't there by default. To use it you mest install the recovery console as a boot option. Insert the Win XP CD, click start, run, and insert this command “D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons”, of course if your CD drive is not D:, change it accordingly. This will install the recovery console , thus giving you a choice at startup to boot into XP or the consol (XP’s version of dos).

Not that this will solve this particular problem, but I just wanted to share the info.