On  6 Feb 98 about Fragmented Swap file, Arif Ullah
 had this to say:

> My problem is whenever I start any program the HD keeps on spinning
> like crazy and running multiple programs makes it worse. It's like
> all the time I am actively using the computer, the HD is also almost
> constantly reading/writing. This makes all the programs run really
> slow and sometimes

This is usually a sign that you have too little RAM. If you could
upgrade to 32 MB, that would almost certainly solve this problem.

>
> I was wondering, if I partition a small part of my HD (i.e. 40 to 60
> MB) and assign it for the swap file would that speed things up for
> me? If the answer is 'yes' then I have the following questions:
>
>         1) Ideally how big should the partition be? (Keeping in mind
>         RAM and Small
> HD)Is
>            there any software or formula to calculate the necessary
>            maximum range?

The usual formula is 2.5 times your RAM, which in your case would mean
40 MB. You can stop some of the HD access by going to Control Panel,
System, Performance, and setting the size of your swap file to a
minimum and maximum of 40 MB. You can use the same menu to assign a
drive to your new swap file.

>    2) Do I have to uncompress the drive before I can partition the
hard disk?

Yes, absolutely -- and back up your data first.
>
>         3) After partitioning, how do I assign the swap file to the new partition?
> Do I have
>            to reinstall Win95?

Yes, and all your applications.
>
> BTW, I have IE4.0 installed. Should I uninstall it? Thanks a lot in advance
> for any help you can give.
>

If you have only 16 MB of RAM, don't use IE4, which is a real
resource hog.

Again, if you install 16MB of RAM, you won't have go through
repartioning your drive and all that this means: backing
up your data, uncompressing the drive, then reinstalling everything,
inc. Win95, afterward. RAM prices these days are dirt cheap (assuming
you don't have to use proprietary Compaq RAM, of course).

HTH, good luck!

Kris Shapar
____________________________________________________________________

          To doubt everything or to believe everything
          are two equally convenient solutions; both
          dispense with the necessity of reflection.

                              - Jules Henri Poincaré
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