Vol. 76, No. 4, April
2003
Coping with Windows 98
If your firm is still squeezing the last ounce of
life out of Windows 98 on some of your PC systems, you need to read this
to learn some coping techniques.
Ross L. Kodner,
rkodner@microlaw.com, is a
lawyer and founder of Milwaukee's MicroLaw Inc., a legal technology
consultancy and systems integrator. He chairs the ABA Law Practice
Management Section's Computer & Technology Division and was a member
of the ABA Techshow Executive Board from 1997-2001. He is chair of the
2002 Wisconsin Law & Technology Show.
by Ross L. Kodner
The typical law firm Windows 98 user can experience anywhere between
one and five of what Microsoft tactfully refers to as "incidents" per
day. These can include, but are not limited to:
- General slowdowns
- Erratic operation - keyboard input slowdown and speed-up
- Illegal page fault errors
- Seemingly inexplicable application errors (in both Microsoft and
non-Microsoft products)
- General protection faults
- Fatal exception errors
- Random lock-ups with no error message at all
- The (in)famous blue screen of death
Many of us have come to accept these incidents as a fact of life with
Windows 98 (95 and Windows ME, too). The best solution is to bite the
bullet and move to Microsoft operating systems that actually work:
Windows 2000 Pro (my all-time favorite desktop operating system) or
Windows XP. Incidents with Microsoft's newer operating systems are quite
rare - I would be surprised to see a well-set-up system have more than
one incident per month. But migrating to Windows 2000 or XP has its own
"gotchas," involving suitability and compatibility of the PC systems on
which they will run, software and peripheral compatibility, and so on.
So if your firm isn't quite ready to relegate Windows 98 to the dustbin
of techno.history, there are some steps you can proactively take to make
those systems somewhat more reliable.
The following are some things that can be done to help with system
slowness and instability (until you move to new network PC stations and
the more stable Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro operating system).
Defragmentation
Defrag the hard drives and run "full" Scandisks periodically. System
maintenance needs to be performed regularly. The Defragment utility is
found under Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools. Run this at
least quarterly. This also can be more automated and made more
accessible for the people in your office: defragmentation can be done
either via a Windows desktop "shortcut button" or by manual selection
from the Start menu system.
A "full" Scandisk should be done, especially if users frequently use
the PC's power button or reset button to shut down their systems (often
because Windows 98 has a tendency to "hang" during shutdown) and
periodically bypass the subsequent prompt upon rebooting to run the
Scandisk process. Again, found under Start | Programs | Accessories |
System Tools - a desktop shortcut to the utility can make a lot of
sense. Run a full Scandisk at least monthly (the even more complete
Scandisk with a "surface scan" is different - run that more exhaustive
and more time-consuming test once a year).
Stop Windows Brain Drain
Remove resource "sappers" from the Windows system tray. Each item
loaded in the system tray uses some of the limited and finite Windows
"system resources." By removing the unnecessary items from the system
tray, you actually make those resources available to be used by the
workstation's applications. Some of these may be removed from your
startup programs group. You can access this group by right-clicking on
the Start button, then clicking Explore. Scroll down the folder tree to
Start Menu | Programs | Startup. Rather than delete items, especially if
you're unsure if that's a safe thing to do, consider making a subfolder
called "Not Startup" and moving the items from the startup group rather
than deleting them. Other items in your system tray may need to be
removed from the Windows registry. I strongly caution you not to remove
such items if you are not absolutely, positively certain you know what
you are doing when it comes to the registry. If not, ask for help from
someone who is.
Clean the Temp(orary) House
Clean out your Windows "Temp" folder regularly. Keeping the Windows
"Temp" folder clean and empty will greatly improve the performance of
the workstation. This is normally found at C:\Windows\Temp. Delete
everything in it regularly. Windows 98 is supposed to do this
automatically upon exiting the system, but often doesn't. It
forgets.
Lose the Pretty Pictures
Turn off screen savers and desktop backgrounds. Screen savers and
desktop backgrounds are two of the most common offenders in low "system
resources" situations. This is especially true if these features have
been downloaded from the Internet and are larger than the standard
Windows-included files. These downloaded files often contain viruses or
are "spyware" and can wreak havoc with other files on the workstation.
Set the screen saver and background to "none." It is not necessary to
have a pretty picture to look at on the computer - a colored desktop
background in a solid pattern is fine, however. Note that Windows
"Themes" are equally problematic (that is, settings packages that change
icons, cursors, sounds, and so on).
Is Less More? Is More Less?
Minimize programs rather than opening and closing them. Closed
programs do not return the same amount of Windows system resources that
were taken up when the program was first opened. If a program is going
to be used during the day, don't close the program after the first use -
minimize it and restore to full-screen mode each time the program is
needed. This will have a lessened impact on Windows system resources
compared to actually opening and closing programs.
Give Windows 98 a Break
Close programs and reboot at lunch time. Often users will notice
their system is slower or locks up more frequently in the afternoon or
later in the day. Opening a program uses some of the Windows system
resources, and closing that program does not recapture all of the system
resources that were used when the program was opened; this often is
referred to in Windows 98 as "resource leakage." It is better to keep a
program open, minimize it, and then restore it to full-screen mode from
the task bar when the program is needed again. Some features within
programs require a lot of system resources (such as WordPerfect sorting,
spell check, and merging). Rebooting the system during the day (at
lunchtime) refreshes the system resources.
Note too that Windows 95 and 98 can install a system resource meter
on the task bar and actually have real-time monitoring of available
Windows system resources. You also can check the system resource
percentage available at any given time by going to the "My Computer"
shortcut/icon on the Windows desktop and right clicking on it, then
selecting properties. You will see the resource percentage on the screen
that appears. There is not a hard and fast rule relating to available
Windows system resources and system stability under Windows 98 (or 95 or
ME). Generally, however, if the system resources fall below 30 percent,
the probability of "incidents" skyrockets.
Who's Watching You?
Remove so-called "SpyWare" programs from your PC. These are uninvited
and generally unwanted programs that can clandestinely self-download and
install themselves onto your system. These programs do all sorts of
scary things but are generally focused on transmitting marketing
information about your Web surfing and even your purchasing habits to
someone. Aside from the privacy issues, trespass questions, and so on,
these programs can seriously destabilize any version of Windows.
Download the free program called AdAware from Lavasoft Inc. Go to
www.lavasoftusa.com/aaw.html for information. This program will scour
your PC's hard drive for offending SpyWare software and can eradicate
it. You'll likely be amazed at how many offending programs AdAware finds
on your system and removes. Run this at least quarterly.
Conclusion
While nothing can completely eliminate the frustrating incidents,
following some of these tips can definitely reduce the number of
incidents and random freeze-ups, lock-ups, and slowdowns that are just
part of life when using Windows 98. Your firm will benefit
appreciably.
Wisconsin
Lawyer