O'Reilly Media | Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multime

Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multime

By David L. Farquhar
First Edition December 1999
Pages: 289
ISBN 10: 1-56592-677-3 | ISBN 13: 9781565926776
(Average of 2 Customer Reviews)

This book is OUT OF PRINT.

Book description

Every Windows user has spent many frustrating hours trying to figure out ways to optimize system performance. Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia gives you tips and tricks you won't find in any Windows documentation to make your system run faster than ever before. It will answer your questions and save you wasted hours of searching and experimenting to find the practical solutions you're looking for.
Full Description

Every Windows user has spent hours trying to figure out ways to optimize system performance. And each of those same users has most likely been frustrated by that process. Understanding Win 9x and tuning it to be more efficient, whether for desktop applications or video-intensive games, can be very time-consuming. This book gives you the tips and tricks you'll need to make your system run faster than ever before, and you won't find them in any Windows documentation. Do you really need Internet Explorer? Can you use an alternative shell that will give you a better Windows experience? Maybe you're wondering if you need a hardware upgrade or if you can tweak your existing system to work faster instead and save you a lot of unnecessary expense? Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia will answer these questions and save you wasted hours of searching and experimenting on your own computer to find the practical solutions you're looking for. This book covers:

General concepts of conserving memory and CPU cycles, processor speed, and disk optimization
Speeding application launch times
Utilities bundles and which one is right for fine-tuning your system
Benefits of partitioning your drive and what tools you need to do it
What to look for in uninstallers and how to use this valuable maintenance tool strategically
Replacement Windows shells like Program Manager and freeware shells like EVWM and LiteStep
Optimizing DOS sessions and Dial-up networking

You may find other books that teach you how to be more productive with the user interface, but they don't talk much about system optimization. Whether you use your computer in a home or office for business or games, with Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia you won't need to dig through hundreds of pages to come up with a small handful of tips. This book does that work for you and presents it in an easily referenced format. If you want to make the most of your time and your computer, this is a book you'll want on your shelf.

Browse within this book

Cover | Table of Contents | Index | Sample Chapter | Colophon

Featured customer reviews

Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia Review, March 27 2001

Rating:

Submitted by Mark Anthony [Respond | View]

I decided to visit my local Chapters store tonight and review some books when I came across this one. Well, one of the benefits of Chapters is that you're actually allowed to sit down and read books in the store. While I didn't read this book from cover-to-cover, I did read the vast majority of it. And even though I didn't buy it before leaving, I now have this book placed near the top of my list of books to purchase and will do so in a day or so.

Anyone reading this review should take it upon themselves to sit down and browse through this book. The information is very easy to read and the tips are very practical and will provide "real-world" performance increases (I know 'cause I've used some of the tips detailed within this book prior to reading it).

So check it out...

Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia Review, October 29 2000

Rating:

Submitted by Peter Andrijeczko [Respond | View]

I am primarily a Linux user and therefore I have many O'Reilly books, all of which I have found to be very good and useful.

However, I still use Windows 9x for gaming and general day-to-day use and have always objected very strongly to Microsoft's attitude that simply assumes that you have the latest super-fast hardware and want "Active Desktop", Internet Explorer integration, animated menus, etc. without question.

As somebody who is used to optimising Linux and UNIX systems and who came from a DOS background, I have for a long time wanted to get into the real "guts" of Win 9x to do the same but have found Microsoft's web site so convoluted to get to the information I wanted that I frequently ended up giving up.

This book is therefore a GODSEND and I snapped it up the moment it appeared on the shelf of my local bookstore this weekend. I have now read it virtually cover-to-cover and I cannot speak highly enough for this book - it really is well written and has changed my attitude to Win 9x; previously, I had done some surface level optimising of 9x and just assumed that was it for what is basically a "baggage ridden" OS but having finished the book, I am eager to start re-installing machines with some of David's tips, eager to find out just HOW fast I can get it to run on them.

I don't think this book really misses not having a CD - all of the free utilities the author mentions are small and downloadable from the Internet and the "typing in" stuff is minimal (to be perfectly honest, I haven't messed around with config.sys and autoexec.bat for so long now that I welcome the chance to do some command line work again!)

In summary, it's a great book, an easy read and has a lot of interesting stuff in it - I look forward to an update that includes Windows ME which seems to be the most sluggish 9x OS of them all!

Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia Review, April 28 2000
Submitted by Robert Holiday [Respond | View]

As an avid reader of O'Reilly titles, and as a Windows-based technical support specialist and consultant, I was pleasently surprised with many aspects of this book.
The book's relatively plain, clear descriptions of the inner workings of the Windows filesystem and registry were insightful yet did not deter the reader with dry textbook-esque prose. A full compliment to Mr. Farquhar for his no-nonsense, down-to-earth approach to this subject, geared towards enthusiasts yet appropriate for even a basic user's level of need and knowledge.
Some more arcane, unusual solutions to various bottlenecks in both the PC and Windows architectures were a bonus, worth the price of the book alone. Also, a much more opinionated view of the subject is presented here, which is a relief - many such books tread very lightly around such situations as recommending one product above another.
One addition I would have been willing to pay for would have been a CD-ROM or disk with all the appropriate freeware/shareware utilities mentioned in the book on it. While the concept of "shovelware" is something I don't like, the cost of a CD-ROM is negligable and the hassles involved in digging up the utilities online definitely negate an additional $5 cost in the book, IMHO.
Other improvements would be more comprehensive information on dual-boot scenarios, coverage of further dual-boot utilities (OS/2 boot manager comes to mind), optimization of print applications/spooling, and perhaps a broader range of information concerning registry backup and optimization under Windows 98.
Overall, this is a very good book for the money, as most of your books are, and I recommend it to anyone seeking to learn more about how to improve their Windows experience, or involved in a highly Windows-centric work environment. Will there ever be a Windows NT version of this book?

- Robert

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Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia Review, January 30 2000
Submitted by Mark Semon [Respond | View]

This is the book I have been looking for! It covers all those little questions that come to mind (7200rpm or 5400rpm hard drives, etc.) as well as the really big and important ones. As a bonus, it is extremely clear, easy to read and implement. The author makes it all sound deceptively easy, yet, as one who has struggled thru much of this on my own, I know how long and hard it can be to acquire the insights given in this book.

I can't praise the book highly enough. Not only does the author cover EVERYTHING you should do and can do, he also discusses what you SHOULDN'T do, based on his experiences of trying.

Incredibly valuable! Buying it might be the best thing you ever did to improve your life with computers -- it certainly is the best thing I ever did.

Media reviews

"Our Favorite Things: Further good news for us illiterates: From O'Reilly & Associates we have the help of this handy trio 'PC Hardware in a Nutshell' by Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, 'Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics, and Multimedia' by David l. Farquhar, and 'Learning Web Design' by Jennifer Niederst."
--Warren Berry, Newsday, Dec 16, 2001

"If you like having a slow computer, ignore this book"
--Randy M. Zeitman, www.CompBookReview.com, Jan 2001

"For years we've been reading articles in tech sites, participating in "tip" news groups, and buying magazines with the special pullout sections just for a fraction of the knowledge contained in this one book. The author lays out all the best ways to speed up your system from the ground up, outlining what works and what doesn't. If you consider yourself a Windows expert or if you would like to be, I would highly recommend this book. If only more system manufacturers and software vendors would pay attention to some of the concepts contained within, people would not need to replace their sluggish machines as quickly." --Rod Apeldoorn, WEAV Newsletter, Feb 2001 "An invaluable guide to getting the best out of your PC, explaining the whys as well as the howsthis is a must have for anyone wanting to squeeze more performance out of their ageing PC."
--Ben Hardwidge, PC Pro, July 2000

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