Can I delete the Autoexec.bat and config.sys files to get more available memory?

[Lombardaga]

hmmm...anyone knows..??

 

[Dark4ng3l]

hmm they are insignificant in size anyway.

 

[JaiKnight]

Are you talking about Extended & Conventional memory or just plain HDD space?

 

[Xe0n]

wtf? more memory? u meen more hd space? if they have anything in them, then thats the only time theyre important, and if they dont have anything in them then they arnt taking up space...so dont do it

 

[Lombardaga]

ive read that those files can consume much memory. Is this a reality??

 

[JaiKnight]

It was more of a problem with DOS I think when people tried to squeeze their systems for every last tidbit of conventional RAM to run their games. Windows handles it better now and doesn't have the 640k barrier to running programs as far as I know.

Forgot to add, it's not the actual files themselves that consume memory, it's the Device Drivers and TSRs (Terminant Stay Resident, or something like that) programs that take up the conventional memory (640k) and then edge into the extended RAM of a system. With an average of 128MB of Extended RAM in systems these days we don't have many problems, unless you try to run legacy DOS games. Then you've gotta pull out the copy of QEMM and start loading stuff into High Memory

 

[Moonbender]

Basically, autoexec.bat and config.sys are not necessary anymore. Every Windows since 95 should work fine without them, and neary always they do just that. But it depends ... maybe you have got some really old device which uses old DOS drivers (which is NOT a good thing) or some program or driver made some settings in the files. Also, if you use Win9x and you're running DOS apps sometimes, you might need them.
Too free up memory, it's not really necessary, as (with Windows apps) there are (that's the one revolutionary thing about Win9x ) no more problems with the lower 640k, but it might speed up the boot process. *shrug* Never seen an autoexec.bat containing anything substantial in a long time.

 

[Gunbuster]

Try: Start---->run--->type: msconfig and find out

 

[Assimilator1]

Moonbender

Here's 1 for you

@Echo OFF

SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND

SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
REM SET CTCM=C:\SYSTEM\CTCM


GOTO %CONFIG%

:WIR
win
GOTO END

:XMS
LH /L:1,56928 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MOUSE
LH /L:1,15952 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DOSKEY
LH /L:1,27952 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:CD0001 /M:15
C:\SYSTEM\SB32\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\SYSTEM\SB32\AWEUTIL /S
C:\SYSTEM\SB32\MIXERSET /P
GOTO END

:EMS
LH /L:1,56928 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MOUSE
LH /L:1,27952 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:CD0001 /M:10
C:\SYSTEM\SB32\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\SYSTEM\SB32\AWEUTIL /S
C:\SYSTEM\SB32\MIXERSET /P
GOTO END

Does that take you back? hehe

 

[JaiKnight]

Hey cool, I wish I had that thing when I was switching between X-Wing and Privateer.... (I'm assuming you had the changes in the Config file for XMS and EMS? )

 

[Moonbender]

LOL well it does create some sentimental feelings. I remember fiddling for HOURS creating boot menus for optimal driver loading, to get that additional 1kb of free DOS memory. Christ, DOS S U C K S !
I remember I once had a quite nice, optimised setup, just to foolishly follow a friends recommendation and use ... ah what's the name - MEMMAKER that's it, and of course it TOTALLY destroyed everything I had created and didn't help at all. LOL!

Anyway - why on earth do you still have those drivers in there? Are you saying you still use DOS? You can't be serious!

 

[JaiKnight]

Haha, I remember using Memmaker too, couldn't get it to work properly, so I switched back to QEMM. Yet another person that had to squeeze every last 1k out of the system Glad to know I wasn't the only one

 

[pen^2]

hey, squeezing out more conventional memory was by far the most exciting thing i have ever done on computers (no pun intended) i miss those non-computer-illeterate-friendly computing environments...

 

[Assimilator1]

Moonbender

>>>>Are you saying you still use DOS? <<<<

Hehe ,not if I can help it ,but I do have a couple of really old DOS only games I like to play from time to time ,Elite Final Frontier &amp; the follow up to it (1st encounter I think) ,though the latter one is really buggy.Mind you I havent played them in about a year.

 

[Moonbender]

Elite? Haha sweet =) A great game ...
I think there's gonna be a similar game in some months, Freelancer. Haven't heard anything about it for some time, but it seemed very similar to Elite.

 

[Kitros]

...hmm, to save memory, delete the directory called &quot;WINDOWS&quot; and join the Linux communtity . ahh the days of memmaker..

 

[beat mania]

Hehe ... I had the joy of using 386max for my memory manager, which it did something like use the vga memory space or something like that to give you 700k+ conventional memory. It was beautiful. I used it over qemm. Memmaker didn't even existed back then.

 

[Quickfingerz]

if you have a newer model computer, and you don't run dos apps, you can delete it all.

 

[Niege]

Beat Mania: I used QEMM -- with DRDOS 6, though I flirted with buying 386max. Gawd, trying to figure out the order in which to load things.... still gives me the willies.