PC Tips...
With the use of intensive graphics, sound, modem connections and file swapping; one uses most of their hardware as they "push" their systems to the brink of crashing. Crashing a system by running too many tasks through it at once is almost an objective for some folks; since they want to know how much their system can do. In fact, they often find themselves almost bragging about a system crash; since their peers know they have a well tweaked (adjusted) system. "Yeseree, I found yet another limit!"
If a system is not in good shape, crashing is not a challenge. If, on the other hand, one has tweaked the system's hardware and software to its maximum, the resulting challenge of pushing the system can be quite satisfying. I use 3D games to push my system. If the game doesn't perform perfectly, I read the readme files again and figure out what I can do to get it there. Obviously I need the recommended hardware to allow the game to perform at its minimum.
Tip One: Do not overload or fill up your hard drive. Overloading a hard drive WILL result in the loss of information and settings. Also, as your hard drive fills with files, many check points are established which slow the hard drive down due to work load. Leave at least 50 megabytes (mg) of space even if it is a relatively small hard drive. There are many reasons for buying a new hard drive today. One is the new programs and operating systems; and how much memory they demand in storage and operation.
Windows 3.x has a swap file that tries to maintain an area on your hard drive. Multimedia presentations depend on this file. If you overload your hard drive you can over-ride this file's area resulting in error statements about lack of memory or about the file being corrupt.
Windows 95 has a similar swap file which expands and contracts to meet your application's needs. Over loading your hard drive leaves the swap file little or no room to expand, resulting in loss of settings and lots of other problems with running applications.
Tip Two: Second Hard Drives - If you are adding a second hard drive to your system (instead of replacing one), and you have Windows 95, you can have an advantage most folks do not have. You can change your "virtual memory swap file" (VMSF) settings and have Windows 95 using a seperate hard drive for virtual memory swapping.
For understanding purposes, lets call the hard drive where Windows 95 resides your "first" hard drive. Therefore a "second" hard drive is not where Windows 95 resides, although Windows 95 may indeed be in control of the second hard drive like with most every other part of your system. Well, it seems to work.
When you are playing a real intensive game, your hard drive is processing information about files, accessing and administrating other hardware, running the math co-processor mad with calculations, and using a VMSF for most of its communications (they call it a hard drive because it works hard like you, otherwise they would call it a manager drive). This is why it crashes as your game character performs a spinning back-flip while shooting two 45 automatic pistols to the tune of several beastly screeches and moans and a cadence of other weapons discharging; not a good time for a break in the action. [I like Lara Croft a lot!] This is also why frames were missed in another game and I didn't know there was a statue of my co-pilot inside the artsy planet even as we flew in and around it several times. [What a radical virtual goddess! That's not sexist. She was radical and she thought herself a goddess.] I recommend you find and install a game (preferably one with video sequences) which you know is choppy or known for stalling at a specific time on your machine. After applying the tips below you should see a positive difference.
Storing data into and retrieving data from the VMSF is a very large chore. By allowing your second hard drive to deal with the VMSF, you allow your first hard drive to be freed up for all the other activity. This way one hard drive doesn't just sit there while the other is furiously busy working its needle off (we have enough of that at work not to have it happening at home too).
In Windows 95 go to control panel, system, performance, and then virtual memory settings. Here you can designate for windows to use 100mg (or more) of memory on your second hard drive, or in a partition on your second hard drive. Be warned that this is something Windows 95 will do reluctantly. It will make you feel like you are about to blow your system apart by doing this (wild warnings about not working again). Get a second opinion about this for your system and settings. I do not use weird applications like double-hard-drive-space software as they tend to interfere with applications and games (see my storage tips).
My system has a 5.7 gigabyte hard drive devided into two 2gb and one 1gb partitions (C:\, E:\ and F:\ respectively) with Windows 95 on it. I also have a 2gb hard drive which is devided into two partitions of 1gb designated as drives D:\ & G:\. In my virtual settings I have told Windows 95 to use up to a maximum of 100mb of information on the second (D:\) drive when I'm having trouble with smoothness in a program on the C:\, E:\ or F:\ drives.
Tip Three: Always check for the minimum system requirements before purchasing multimedia software of any kind. If you barely meet these requirements you will get minimal responses (and sometimes less than that). The standards for PCs are not carved in granite; in fact, they are thrown around quite loosely by some to snare suckers. I know, I still fall for the tricks at times. Besides, I don't care for minimal or near minimal responses (see my Hardware Upgrades tips).