1. Quicker Menus.

Download TweakUI and after installing it open it up and under Mouse tab move the slider closer to Fast. This will make your menus open quicker.

2. Faster Disk Access.

Start by double-clicking on the Control Panel's System icon, then clicking on the Performance tab. Next, click on the File System button. You'll see two settings in the resulting Hard Disk dialog box: The setting labeled Typical Role of This Machine determines how much space is set aside in main memory to handle path and filename caching. The default Desktop Computer choice allocates space for a paltry 32 paths and 677 filenames, whereas the Network Server choice bumps those settings up to 64 paths and 2,729 filenames. Even if your computer is used strictly for desktop applications, change the Typical Role box to Network Server. Unfortunately, if you're using the original release of Windows 95--not the recently updated version titled OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2)--you'll have to take an additional step to correct a bug in the Windows 95 Registry. Use the Windows 95 Registry Editor and change the value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\FSTemplates\Server\NameCache to a9 0a 00 00, and \PathCache to 40 00 00 00.

The Read-Ahead Optimization slider establishes how much additional data Windows 95 should fetch every time you retrieve data from your hard disk. Read-ahead buffering improves performance by reducing the number of times your machine has to go out to the relatively slow hard disk to get data. Set the slider all the way to the right, giving Windows 64K of read-ahead buffering.

Next, click on the CD-ROM tab in the File System Properties box. The Supplemental Cache Size slider adjusts the room Windows 95 sets aside for read-ahead buffering of your CD. The first three steps on the slider add 64K or 128K each to the cache; the final three steps add 256K apiece. The box labeled Optimize Access Pattern For doesn't control access speed to your CD; the setting's real function is to reserve even more buffer space for caching CD reads. The Single-Speed Drives and No Read-Ahead settings don't increase the buffer size. But the double-, triple-, and quad-speed settings add 50K, 100K, and 150K of cache, respectively.

If you use your CD drive frequently, move the Supplemental Cache Size slider to Large, and specify that you have a Quad Speed or Higher CD, even if you don't. The combination will set aside about 1.2MB for CD caching, and ensure that your CD will run as fast as possible.

3. Speedier Swap File

Go back to the System Properties box and click on the Virtual Memory button. Usually Windows 95 does a very good job of managing virtual memory, also known as the swap file. But if you use memory-intensive apps like Microsoft Office 97 or Adobe Photoshop, a few judicious adjustments in Virtual Memory may speed things up.

If you have more than one physical drive, put the swap file on your fastest hard drive. First defragment the drive where the swap file will be located. To minimize swap setup time, set the minimum and maximum size of the swap file to the same number, approximately 2.5 to 3 times the size of your main memory. For example, if you have 16MB of RAM, set it to 48MB. Click on OK and restart Windows to kick in your new swap settings.

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