Windows 95 General Troubleshooting

Forcing Windows 95 to Use the Hard Drive Less

SUMMARY: Is Windows 95 constantly thrashing the hard drive? Here are some possible solutions to this problem.

Is Windows 95 constantly thrashing the hard drive?

If so, there's one easy solution - easy, if you have money, that is. Upgrade your RAM. If you are running 16 megs instead of 8, the hard drive will be used less. 32 megs, and your hard drive use shrinks considerably. 64 megs and it may not have to be used that much except for opening/saving programs/files.

Why is this so? When Windows 95 runs out of memory, it uses your hard drive for memory. That slows the computer down somewhat. Upgrade the physical memory (RAM), and Windows 95 uses your hard drive a lot less. If you want to see *how* Windows 95 is using your physical memory and your hard drive as a cheap memory substitute, view the Resource Monitor under your "Accessories" group.

Now, one other option:

Microsoft Office includes a "Fast Find" option which automatically indexes Office Documents in selected directories. Though this may save time when trying to find documents, it can thrash the hard drive. You may want to go to the "Fast Find" Control Panel icon and delete some or all of the indexes.

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