Text 25729, 73 rader
Skriven 2006-12-26 09:22:12 av Jeff Guerdat (1:275/311)
     Kommentar till en text av ED VANCE
Ärende: Re: My New Fast Computer
================================
ED VANCE wrote:

> JG>ways to hook into the OS for performance?).  I use Firefox which is
> JG>smaller and "lighter" than Netscape and it still takes several seconds
> JG>to open the first time.
> 
> That surprises me that Firefox being smaller takes longer than Netscape
> to start up.

I haven't used Netscape in so long that I have no idea how it compares 
in startup time.  I'd wager that Firefox starts slightly faster but it'd 
getting the various modules in memory the first time that takes the 
time.  Second opening is always much faster.

> I always shut down and unplug the box when I get done using it,
> I'm too afraid of Lightening ever coming in on the line and making my
> system useless, I only press the Sleep Button on this keyboard when I
> have to go away from the box because the Wife calls me or something
> else that takes me away from the computer.

A little paranoia can be a good thing but my take is that a decent UPS 
would be a better approach.  Yes, you can get a strike that kills both 
the uPS and the computer but unless you live in one of those places 
where lightning strikes are very frequent the brute force approach 
you're taking seems extreme to me.  I do NOT live in a bad lightning 
zone and know few people who have actually lost anything to a close 
strike.  I unplug nothing except when power goes totally down since the 
startup surge may be worse than a little while extra offline.

I'd urge you to contemplate your circumstances (and navel) closely and 
see if there isn't a different approach that may actually work better. 
My computer sleeps nicely behind a UPS and would have no idea that power 
was lost...

> I've noticed that when I press the Sleep Button, usually the Desktop
> pops back up on the screen because of Zonealarm internet activity.
> So the Sleep Button doesn't keep my box asleep.   ;-]

Well, you can set the computer to suspend after so many minutes so it's 
automatic.  Mine wakes up when I print to the attached printer from my 
laptop and then goes back to sleep after 10 minutes.  No interaction 
needed and it's always ready for me.

You might want to turn off the alarms from ZA - most of them can be 
safely ignored anyways.  The events are logged so you can just make it a 
habit to browse the logs at your leisure to see the same info.

> JG>That said, there can be other reasons for slowness which may take some
> JG>investigating to figure out.  Low cost computers also use low cost
> JG>components - what speed is your hard drive (5400 vs. 7200 RPM)?  You can
> JG>use Device Manager to see the model - look up the specs on the
> JG>manufacturer's web site.  Is the IDE bus set for PIO mode or DMA?
> 
> The hard drive is a 7200 RPM SATA unit.

There can still be a difference in drive speeds but it's rather unlikely 
that it would be a real slug.

> I looked and the best I can find out is that "DMA if available" appears
> as to how IDE Properties are set.
> 
> Would IDE properties have any bearing on a SATA hard drive?
> You know more about this stuff than I do.

Unfortunately, SATA is just an extension over the old PATA (parallel 
ATA) bus and drives so pretty much anything that should be set for old 
drives and IDE buses is true for SATA, too.  The big things that SATA 
gives you are much smaller cables and new commands that make drive usage 
more performance-oriented.  They're features that SCSI had years ago and 
are slowly being added to the cheap crap most home users buy.  So, yes, 
you want the DMA setting as you saw it in Device Manager.
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