Mac guys,
for the last few weeks I've been playing around w/ Strat-o-matic V6
for Windows running on Virtual PC (VPC) 4.0.2 with Windows 98. After
making a few adjustments to Virtual PC (VPC) & Win 98 I'm glad to report
that everything has been running very smoothly. Below are just a few
tips for optimizing Virtual PC's (VPC) performance.
Before
I get started first let me tell you some of my configurations. I have
a Power Mac 8500 but I have a G4 400 mhz Sonnet processor upgrade card
and 448 megs of ram and am running system 9.2.1. ( I also have pci cards
for usb, firewire & ata drives) And one more important note before we
get started, here are two links that have system requirements for running
VPC on your Mac:
For 4.0.2
click here-Detail Form
For 5.0 click here-
Connectix Virtual PC 5 For Mac
TIPS TO OPTIMIZING
VPC
1-The most
important change for me regarding speed on VPC was to turn OFF the MMX
Compatibility option under Processor which can be found in the settings
window. I believe the effects of having this on for my system was more
troubling than a system that has no processor upgrade card. So if you
do have an upgrade processor card definetely turn this off; if you don't
I'd still recommend turning it off as I see no reason why this needs
to be on to run SOM.
2-Turn
off Virtual memory in your control panals of your mac.
3-Allocate
at least 96 megs of ram to VPC if running Windows 98. This may be more
if you're running Windows 2000 and above. On VPC 4.0.2 and above you
do NOT allocate ram from the Get Info dialog box in your mac. Instead
you do it from within the program in the settings window.
4-Set the
color depth for the Windows OS to match that of the Mac's, under VPC
there will be no benefit to running in 32-bit color made.
5-If after
doing all 4 of the things mentioned above VPC is still running slow
you may want to do the following to your settings on your Windows system
(note, advise is for Win 95 or 98, not sure about 2000 or above)
- From
the "Folder Options" General tab (from the "View" menu of My Computer),
set Custom, based on settings you choose" option to be the following:
Active Desktop: "Use Windows Classic Desktop" View Web content in
folders: "Only for folders where I select "as Web Page" (View menu)"
- From
the "Folder Otions" View tab (from the "View" menu of My Computer),
set "Folder views" option, "You can make all your folders look the
same", to be "Like Current Folder".
- From
the "View" menu of My Computer:Toolbars: Standard Buttons: off (unchecked)
Address Bar: off (unchecked) View as Web Page: off (unchecked) Explorer
Bar: none
- From
the "Effects" tab of the "Display" control panel:Visual Effects: Turn
off "Show Icons using all possible colors" Turn off "Animate windows,
menus and lists"
That's
all I have for now. I'm sure I'll be learning more as time goes by.
I'll keep you informed the moment I discover new information. If you
have any questions please feel free to email me.
