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Here is some info on optimizing memory for use with NS Deluxe. While
running DDWin 3.01 and The NS Deluxe NaturalWord plug-in I noticed very
frequent hard disk access, even with 128MB. So I fired up Norton System
Doctor to monitor the size of both the swap file and vcache (memory
reserved for hard disk read/write cache). First I let Windows 95 manage
memory. Then the maximum allowable vcache was reduced to 32MB, and then
again to 16MB. Here are the results:
Win95 managing memory: vcache size Swap file size % Swap file used
NaturalWord 39.4MB 18.0MB 96
NaturalWord+DDWin 3.01 48.9MB 51.0MB 99
vcache limit 32MB:
NaturalWord 32.0MB 10.5MB 92
NaturalWord+DDWin 3.01 32.0MB 34.0MB 99
vcache limit 16MB:
NaturalWord 16.0MB 0.0MB NA
NaturalWord+DDWin 3.01 16.0MB 17.5MB 99
As you can see from the above numbers the Achilles heel isn't the Swap
file, but the amount of every used by vcache. Left to its own devices
Windows 95 manages large amounts of memory poorly, allocating unnecessarily
large blocks to vcache.
The size of vcache can be controlled by using to parameters in the
SYSTEM.INI file:
MinFileCache=<value in KB>
MaxFileCache=<value in KB> note: there are 1024KB to 1MB
The lines should be inserted into the SYSTEM.INI file after the line that
says:
[vcache]
Here is an example from my system:
MinFileCache=2048
MaxFileCache=16384
This tells Windows that the minimum amount of memory allowed for vcache is
2MB, and the maximum is 16MB. Those of you with less than 128MB may want
to experiment. My guess would be that the best results will be achieved if
the maximum value is 1/8 the total amount of memory installed.
Be sure to save the SYSTEM.INI file and reboot the system in order for the
changes to take effect.
----
Patrick Henebry |"I'd rather laugh with the sinners
tphenebry@@earthlink.net |than cry with the saints. The sinners
CompuServe 73513,3071 |are much more fun." Billy Joel
AOL TPatrickH |
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