Most existing 16-bit and MS-DOS-based programs were originally written for Windows 3.0 or Windows 3.1. Windows 7 runs these older programs using a virtual machine that mimics the 386-enhanced mode used by Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1. Unlike on other recent releases of Windows, on Windows 7 each 16-bit and MS-DOS-based application runs as a thread within a single virtual machine. This means that if you run multiple 16-bit and MS-DOS-based applications, they all share a common memory space. Unfortunately, if one of these applications hangs or crashes, it usually means the others will as well.
You can help prevent one 16-bit or MS-DOS-based application from causing others to hang or crash by running it in a separate memory space. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the program’s shortcut icon and then click Properties. (If the program doesn’t have a shortcut, create one, and then open the shortcut’s Properties dialog box.)
2. On the Shortcut tab, click the Advanced button. This displays the Advanced Properties dialog box.
3. Select the Run In Separate Memory Space check box.
4. Click OK twice to close all open dialog boxes and save the changes.
NOTE: Running a program in a separate memory space uses additional memory. However, you’ll usually find that the program is more responsive. Another added benefit is that you are able to run multiple instances of the program—as long as all the instances are running in separate memory spaces.
Hello Readers! In this tutorial I will be showing you how to cleanup Windows XP so that it runs faster! Don’t feel left out if you run Windows Vista or Windows 7, I will be doing tutorials for those operating systems also. Anyway, back to the tutorial.
Clean out Viruses and Malware:
Are you running a good anti-virus program, with automatic updates? Have you scanned your system for spyware, adware and other unwanted pests? If not, try downloading AVG Free Edition or something that has good reviews. Viruses and malware can slow down your system a LOT, because they use your resources to generate popup ads, send spam, and often interfere with the operation of good programs.
Remove Unnecessary Software:
You may have a bunch of software packages on your hard drive that are no longer needed, or they were gratuitously installed when you downloaded some other package. Toolbars, file-sharing programs, free email enhancers, online shopping “companions” and download managers are notorious for this practice. These uninvited guests can put a big drag on your startup time, cause web pages to load slowly, and generally bog down your computer. Go to Control Panel, then Add/Remove Software to see what packages are installed. Remove the ones you know you don’t need, and do a web search to learn about the ones you’re not sure about.
Clean Up Your Hard Drive:
Both Windows and application programs tend to leave temporary files lying around on your hard drive, taking up space needlessly. A hard drive that is close to being full can cause Windows to act strangely, and will slow down or interfere with efficient disk access and virtual memory operations. And if you surf the web a lot, your temporary internet files folder can become quite large, causing Internet Explorer to slow down or malfunction. Cleaning up unneeded files, scanning for disk errors and defragmenting the hard drive can help to restore some zip to your system. First, open My Computer, right-click on the C: Drive icon, select Properties, then click on Disk Cleanup. (Optional: Select the More Options tab to find and remove even more unwanted files.) To run a defrag, open My Computer, right-click on the C: Drive icon, select Properties, then Tools. Click the Check Now button to scan your disk for errors. When the scan is complete, click the Defragment Now button to run the defrag, which reorganizes your hard disk so Windows can find and access files more efficiently. (It’s highly recommended that you close all running programs and disable your screen saver before running a defrag. Otherwise, updates to your files may trigger defrag to restart endlessly.)
Clean Your Registry:
The Windows Registry is a database that enables the operating system to track the relationships between hardware and software. Unfortunately, problems with the registry can make Windows run slower. Sometimes an “orphaned” registry entry can confuse Windows during startup and cause a delay. And in general, slimming down your registry will make Windows run faster. There are several utility programs that will clean your system registry of unnecessary and erroneous entries.
Turn Off Extraneous System Services:
We’re heading into geek territory here, so be forewarned. Windows doesn’t know exactly how you’re going to use your computer, so it starts a whole bunch of system services that manage network connections, database access, error reporting, remote access and other nerdy-sounding things. You may not need all these services, and disabling some of them can reduce your startup time and system overhead. But choosing which ones to nuke is a bit daunting, unless you are an expert on Windows operating system internals.
Hey, you. Yeah, you with the netbook. Have you been wanting to try something new on it? Yes? You have? Well your going to find this tutorial very useful then.
Well you may have heard Google announced an OS called Chromium. It is basically a web browser with some extra features. Mainly aimed at netbooks and smaller computing devices. Now, I know you want to try it so here are the instructions:
1. Download the Chromium image from Hexxeh’s site.
2. Extract the image to a directory of your choice.
3. Now follow one of these steps:
If you’re on Windows:
Download Image Writer for Windows (http://bit.ly/7gRu0n) and extract the program. Launch the program, and select the image (ChromeOS-Cherry.img) and your USB drive letter from the drop down box. Click “Write”. The install image will then be copied to the drive. Once it’s done, close the program and you can then boot from the USB drive.
If you are on Linux:
Extract ChromeOS-Cherry.img and run the following command in the same directory as the file, where X is the device name of your USB drive.
sudo dd if=ChromeOS-Cherry.img of=/dev/X bs=4M
Once the command finishes, you can then boot from the USB drive.
Lastly but not least, if you are on a Mac:
Firstly, unmount the drive you want to install Chromium OS to. Place the downloaded file onto your desktop. Open System Profiler, click USB on the list at the side and then select the entry that represents your USB disk. Now look for the BSD Name column (http://bit.ly/5mG4WK). Remember what is written here. In my case, it is disk1, but in yours it may be different. Take care here as if you get it wrong, it could seriously mess things up. Once you have this, open up Terminal and type the following commands.
tar -zxvf ChromeOS-Cherry.tar.gz
For the next command, replace X with the name of the disk you found earlier, ie disk1.
sudo dd if=ChromeOS-Cherry.img of=/dev/X bs=4m
This command will ask you to enter your password (the same one you enter when installing software for example), type it in and press enter. This command will take a while to run, about 20 minutes for me, and then will give you your shell prompt back once it has finished. Once it has, you can remove your USB drive and boot from it
And a little info, you can’t actually boot into it on a Mac, it wont work.
Now, if you’ve done the steps properly you can now boot from your USB and try out Chromium OS.
If it didn’t work check out this FAQ and if you still can’t solve your problem PM me or post a comment.
All credit goes to @Hexxeh for making this build possible. I was just a tester.