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Forgotten Tweak

Locked

Okay, so I went on this interview early in my career and got reamed by the hiring manager. He was asking me ridiculous questions for a job that only paid 30K. years later I relaized that it was nothing personal he was probably jsut trying to hook up a friend. But that’s besides the point. One of the things that I learned, in an effort to not make this fiasco a total lost was a great little tweak that once applied to the registry of a windows 2000 server, performance would/could increase by up to 40%! Anyone know what i’m talking about! Thanks in advance!

G!

Topic

Windows 2000 tweak

In reply to Forgotten Tweak

Here is one that allows you to reserve more system cache for file caching, which is appropriate for servers, instead of the default, software applications, which is more appropriate for desktops.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ Session Manager\
Memory Management]
Value Name: LargeSystemCache
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: “0” for Desktops; “1” for Servers

Good luck.

Craig Herberg

i always do this…

In reply to Forgotten Tweak

I always set my paging file size to initial size: 1024 and maximum size: 1024 (adjust according to your actual memory size)

I’ve bandaged many a server problems with this. But I got nothing for registry…unless you are looking for 2000’s version of msconfig…which you could go through and delete all of the startup programs. But I don’t remember where this was located…anyone else remember where this is?

Msconfig for Windows 2000

In reply to i always do this…

Although Win2K does not come with msconfig, you can use it from Win98 or XP.

Craig Herberg

well…

In reply to Msconfig for Windows 2000

Well…there is an easier way. I first found it out a few years ago…but have since then forgotten…it’s in the registry. Anyone know where the startup stuff is at?

here is the location

In reply to well…

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Also, check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Just Remembered it..I think

In reply to Forgotten Tweak

I beleive the registry entry is “waittokill” and it’s default to 20000 or something like that.

Okay here it is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

WAITTOKILL

Change that value to 2000 and your server performance will increase! Thanks everyone!

Feel free to keep the tweaks coming

Hey Mr Lyrical

In reply to Just Remembered it..I think

Tell me, what exactly does that tweak do (kill)? And therefore, the reason for the performance increase – you got me really curious!!!!

Kill’em Quicker

In reply to Hey Mr Lyrical

This setting is a buffer size that the OS uses to kill apps. By decreasing the buffer, you are telling the OS ” I know what i’m doing..just kill it already.” I have seen a remarkable difference in how how the systems responds to requests. I changed my WaitToKill from 20000 to 2000.

Beautiful

In reply to Kill’em Quicker

I’ll have to try this out on an old box.

Does it work with W2K Pro wkstn?

In reply to Just Remembered it..I think

Interesting – I’m experiencing performance problems on my old Dell laptop & have tried most ‘performance enhancing’ advice/apps. Would this work with W2K Pro wkstn? There is currently no reg entry for this key.

KW

waititokill

In reply to Does it work with W2K Pro wkstn?

Using XP, I found WaitToKillServiceTimeout in that reg location. It contained 20000, so I reduced it to 2000. Time will tell if it works.

[Author]

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