98 machine gets alower and slower

Find and delete all *.tmp files

Find and delete all ~*.* files

If using Internat explorer, find and delete everything in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

If using Netscape navigator, find the Cache folder and delete everything in it.
Do a scandisk and a defrag

Download, install and run Ad-Aware ( http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/ ) if the computer is connected to a "always on" network. Delete anything Ad-Aware finds and then reboot.

Start --> Run --> MSconfig -->click on selective startup --> then look at the Startup tab and uncheck anything not used regularly (Windows only uses systray and explore). -- You can put them back one-by-one if you find that one or more are required.

Windows 9x (95, 98, 98SE, Me) manage memory very poorly. When you close out a program, it does not always release all used memory back to the system. You gradually run lower and lower on resources (due ro the way it is handled, adding more RAM won't help) the longer it is on. You can reboot to free up those resources.

To end the problem once and for all, upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP. With a 400MHz Athlon, I would recommend 2K; upgrade your CPU to 750MHz or better and you can go for XP.
A friend of mine had this problem under Me. It was a Pentium 4 with 384MB RAM. When he upgraded to XP, the problem went away for good.

Windows is somewhat self-destructive and all the 98 systems I've used have always slowed over time and installs. About all you can do is invest in some registry cleaners such as windoctor (nortons), keep the defragging and scandisking going on as routine maintenence and walk through your directories knowing what should or should not be on your system. Anytime a directory exceeds 512 files and your using that directory for a lot of lookups or resources, it impedes the process. A good way to get some performance back is to have your swap file on a drive other than the c:\windows\ area or better yet have a partition strictly for the operating system, one for the swap file and a third for programs, possibly fourth for data, but as you do this you'll see you're constantly needing more space.
But if you do this, reloading the operating system gets easier. Good Luck! A good antivirus check would not hurt either.

Check the fans in ur power supply and in the case of your computer. It could be that a fan has failed or is not strong enough to keep everything cool enough to run optimally. Could also be a failing powersupply.

Jeremy Muchler

I agree with everything in answer 1. But use Spybot instead of ad-aware. It's a much better tool. If you're using Kazza, or some other P2P sharing tool, there is probably a lot of spyware / adware on your machine

Cheers

I agree with everything in answer 1. But use Spybot instead of ad-aware. It's a much better tool. If you're using Kazza, or some other P2P sharing tool, there is probably a lot of spyware / adware on your machine

Cheers

I would also recommend getting a good anti virus program. Forget about Norton and McAfee, those are worthless. Try ViRobot from Hauri (www.hauriusa.net)

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