home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- ====================================================
- Skill Builder README - Optimizing CD-ROM Performance
- ====================================================
-
- If you are experiencing sluggish performance from your
- CD-ROM, here are a few suggestions to optimize your
- system's performance. Optimizing your system's
- performance will not only improve how NETG's courses
- run, but also should improve the performance of any
- other CD-ROM software products you may have.
-
-
-
- =====================
- For Windows 95 users:
- =====================
- When Windows 95 installs over Windows 3.X and DOS,
- older drivers for devices such as your CD-ROM may not be
- removed. This can result in much slower performance.
- Drivers for most devices like CD-ROM drives are built
- into Windows 95. You may need to remove references to
- old drivers in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files
- in order for Windows 95 to recognize your CD-ROM drive.
- If you are unfamiliar with this procedure, please
- contact your hardware manufacturer for assistance.
-
- Many hardware manufacturers maintain support forums on
- CompuServe, the Internet, America Online, etc. If you
- have access to one of these services, you may want to
- check there for updated drivers or procedures.
-
-
-
- ======================
- For Windows 3.1 users:
- ======================
- 1. If you are not running DOS 6.0 or later, upgrade to
- DOS 6.0. DOS 6.0 supports CD-ROM disk caching. (Disk
- caching means storing frequently used files in the computer's
- memory so that when they are needed the computer does
- not have to search for them on the CD-ROM.)
-
- 2. If you are running DOS 6.0 or later and you are
- experiencing sluggish performance with various CD-ROMs,
- check whether your system is set up to use disk caching
- with your CD-ROM drive. To do this please go to the DOS
- prompt (DOS icon is in your MAIN group) and type,
-
- SMARTDRV
-
- and press the enter key. The SMARTDRV program will display
- disk caching status information. Check that your CD-ROM
- drive is included in the list. If it is in the list, your
- system is configured properly.
-
- However, if your CD-ROM drive does not appear in the list
- you will need to change your system setup. To do this
- please follow these steps:
-
- (Please note, if you are familiar with the SysEdit tool
- in Windows you can also use that tool to incorporate the
- following edits.)
-
- A. In your DOS window change to your root directory by
- typing,
-
- CD\
-
- and then pressing enter.
-
-
- B. Make a backup file of your AUTOEXEC.BAT by typing,
-
- copy AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAK
-
- and then press enter.
-
-
- C. Edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file by typing,
-
- EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT
-
- and then press enter.
-
-
- D. Find the line which has SMARTDRV.EXE in it. Copy this
- line to the clipboard by highlighting it and then using
- the Edit/Copy menu item.
-
- Note: If your AUTOEXEC.BAT file does not include a line
- with SMARTDRV.EXE in it, you will want to add one. Since
- SMARTDRV varies with each version of DOS, we suggest you
- refer to your DOS documentation for the correct statement
- to add. Please refer to the rest of our steps here to
- ensure you add your SMARTDRV statement in the proper
- sequence within AUTOEXEC.BAT.
-
-
- E. Find the line which has MSCDEX.EXE in it. Paste the
- SMARTDRV.EXE line in AFTER the MSCDEX.EXE line. (To paste
- a line, place your cursor at the beginning of the line
- following the MSCDEX.EXE line and use the Edit/Paste menu
- item.)
-
-
- F. Go back to the original SMARTDRV.EXE line and insert
- the letters REM followed by a space at the beginning of
- the line.
-
-
- G. Exit the editor by using the File/Exit menu item.
- When prompted, save the file.
-
-
- H. Close the DOS window by typing,
-
- Exit
-
- and pressing enter. Exit Windows and then re-boot your
- computer. When your computer re-boots, please repeat step 2
- to verify that disk caching is now enabled for your CD-ROM
- drive.
-
-