Windows 2000 advisory/optimization guide wanted!

[ahfung]

Even having it in use for a few months, I'm still a newbie and have a lot to learn. Anyone do me a favor?

Edit: sorry for the horrible grammar.

I want some readings on:

security/firewall, disk/file system and optimization tips/tweaks.

 

[setaanbomb]

I don't have a site, but here a few tips.

If you have multiple partitions, run the pagefile on a partition other than the System(one with winnt folder) one. You can change this by...
Right click on My Computer, go to properties.
Click the Advanced Tab
Click Performance Options
Click on Change
Click on your system partition and change the min/max values to zero,
Click Set
Click on another partition with adequate space for your pagefile
Change the min/max values to at least your total RAM MB*1.5(128MB of RAM, 384MB pagefile)
Click Set

I have 256MB of RAM. I have a separate partition strictly for my pagefile. Its 1GB in size, currently my pagefile is 750MB.

 

[CinderElmo]

Make sure you leave the upper value (max) open...with 256mb ram you probably don't need that large of a swap file (unless you are working with huge images or a large database???)

Also, unles your swap file is on a different physical disk, moving it to different partitions won't gain you any speed advantage...although it will certainly give your system disk more free space.

ahfung What are you doing online that you need to optimize? (games, email, etc.)

 

[ahfung]

CinderElmo, you are right on the swap file location issue. I learnt this back in the w95 old days.

I've got 256MB RAM (just as every w2k-er should get), and I set the swap file to 384 for both min and max. Could this go wrong?

And i encountered some weird things with NTFS. My system partition is in NTFS. I found that some programs (like 3dmark2000, NVIDIA tech demo) can't install BUT once I move the environment variable "TMP" and "TEMP" from the NTFS partition to a FAT32 partition they all install properly. Anyone knows what's wrong here?

 

[dukdukgoos]

MS recommends RAM+12MB's for the swap file. I have 256MB RAM and my swap is fixed at 268MB. I have 2 drives so I put the swap at the start of the second drive in its own partition. Definite performance gain over have the swap on the system drive...

 

[tim0thy]

I usually have the swap file at MS' recommended minumum (RAM+12) and my recommended maximum (RAM*2)

 

[ahfung]

I've 2 IBM 75GXP but they are on RAID0 so to the operating system there is only 1 "physical" drive. I guess this setup is pretty fast even putting the page file in system partition.

 

[LocutusX]

Anyone done any benchmarks to see if Win2K's pagefile should be kept on an NTFS partition or on a FAT32 partition? Supposing both partitions are part of the same hard drive, and the FAT32 one comes first. I'm too lazy to bench.

 

[jaywallen]

comment for ahfung: It's interesting that some installation programs work for you once you switch TMP and TEMP environment variables to point to a FAT32 partition. Sounds like the installer is trying to assess free space for its use of the temp directory during install and can't determine free space on the NTFS partition. Sometimes APCOMPAT.EXE in the support tools will enable these types of installers to function properly under NTFS.

Regards,
Jim

 

[ahfung]

Thank you Jim.

I never expect such misterious problem will happen especially considering that NTFS is a much robust feature inside Windows 2000. I guess I'm not alone MS knowledge base might have a official solution for it.

Not sure if APCOMPAT.EXE will work or not because I don't have the CD right now. Let me come back later I'll try.

P.S. No one posted a link, surprised!

 

[jaywallen]

Hello, ahfung!

Oops! Sorry about not posting a link. I got so absorbed in the side issue that I forgot about the main purpose of your original post. Happens with old people like me.

BTW, there are some threads here and at OpenForum ArsTechnica about system optimization. There was also a thread somewhere hereabouts that dealt specifically with favorite NT / W2K Web Sites.

I also neglected to mention that there is a more advanced application compatibility tool available for download somewhere on the Microsoft site. I'll post the URL later if I'm able to find. I found it once, because I have the tool!!!

I happen to like the JSI, Inc. Web site for its excellent set of troubleshooting and optimization tips. And, of course, I go to Microsoft's Technet frequently for general information and troubleshooting.

For security / firewall information I often depend upon Gibson Research Corporation, ICSA, SANS Institute Online, SecurityFocus, TamoSoft, and This Tutorial for a combination of information articles and tutorials, useful utilities and security news.

I'm a newcomer to Windows (of any type), and this list is by no means exhaustive even of my paltry collection. But I hope you might find some of the information to be found at these sites to be useful.

Best regards,
Jim