Windows 95/98 optimization
- add to system.ini file:
- [vcache]
- minfilecache=512
- maxfilecache=4096 ; <= 32 meg RAM
- maxfilecache=8192 ; >= 64 meg RAM
- open Device Manager
- set File System role to Network Server
- if there are 2 hard drives, force virtual memory to use the secondary
drive
- virtual memory must be at least equal to RAM size - twice is preferred
- a fixed pagefile is created if minimum and maximum are set to be
equal
- fixed pagefiles resist fragmentation over time
Windows NT
- Required software addon for NT 4.0
- Diskkeeper - defragmentation
- Windows 2000 & XP include a limited version of Diskkeeper.
Linux
- Server Applications
- Operating system - run in text mode with minimum number of applications
installed to improve security
- Samba allows the server to function in a network as though it were
an NT server
- Apache is the preferred web server for the Internet
- MySQL is preferred over Microsoft's SQL Server
- Preferred distributions (have automatic updates)
- SuSE - version 8+
- Red Hat - version 8+
- Desktops
- Linspire - preferred for people who want the desktop to look exactly
like Windows
- Not designed for use as a server
- Red Hat 8+ and SuSE 8+can also be used as desktops, both have very usable
desktop interfaces
- Application Software
- Open Office
- Mozilla (generic cousin to Netscape Navigator)
All computers
- Required software
- Antivirus - set to update daily at a time when the computer will usually
be turned on
- Personal firewall such as ZoneAlarm, Black Ice, etc.
- Hardware recommendations
- 256 meg or more of memory will improve performance of any computer