                 MS-DOS 7.00/Windows 95 Memory Management Tips



These are my own memory management tips on how to squeeze a few more KB (Kilo
Bytes) of free low (conventional) memory (RAM) for your DOS programs/games
(under Windows 95 OS) and on how to optimize your CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT
under Windows 95 to make all this happen.



                                    Intro


I included here my Windows 95 versions of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS and my
MS-DOS 6.22 startup files: AUTOEXEC.DOS and CONFIG.DOS (dual-boot users, that
kept their ol' Windows 3.1x/MS-DOS 6.xx copies, may be interested to view these
two .DOS files).
You can read all these files by opening them in Windows (any version above 3.00)
with Notepad, or in MS-DOS mode (any version above 5.00) with EDIT.COM (the
MS-DOS default ASCI text editor).
The *.DOS files are the names given to the DOS 6.xx startup files by Win95 OS,
when using the dualboot feature (after you installed Win95 on your system) and
you booted up into Win95.

TIP: A nice thing is that you can successfully use Win95's MS-DOS mode memory
managers versions (HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE) in your MS-DOS 6.xx CONFIG.SYS
(if you're using the dual boot feature in Win95, and kept your old DOS/Windows
files on your hard drive!).

I also suggest to load Win95's DOS mode MSCDEX.EXE (version 2.25) in your MS-DOS
6.xx version of AUTOEXEC.BAT, to give your CD-ROM drive full potential and
compatibility with the newer CD-ROM software (most CD-ROM drives can not even be
accessed in DOS mode without MSCDEX support).

My CONFIG.SYS also uses QuarterDeck's QEMM version 8.01 updated and Helix's
NetRoom version 3.04 updated, comercial third party 386 enhanced memory managers.
Read DOS95MEM.TXT (for my outside Win95 memory configuration), WIN95MEM.TXT (for
an MS-DOS session inside Win95 memory configuration), and MSD95.TXT (my outside
Win95 memory configuration shown by running MSD.EXE version 2.1, included with
the Win95 install CD-ROM).
MSD95.TXT was created by running this MSD.EXE command:
MSD /P C:\path\MSD95.TXT
from the DOS prompt command line, outside Win95 (with MS-DOS mode drivers only).

NOTE: All CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT command lines in these examples are
      customized to my system, and you'll need to follow the guidelines in
      this text file, and then edit your OWN startup files (ONLY after you've
      made BACKUP copies) to adapt them to your own SYSTEM configuration !



                   MY CONFIG.SYS AND AUTOEXEC.BAT EXPLAINED


Bellow are my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT command lines explained (most of
these tips are ALSO VALID for my DOS6/Win31's startup files included here:
AUTOEXEC.DOS and CONFIG.DOS, if not specified otherwise):


                        My CONFIG.SYS lines explained


My HIMEM.SYS command line in CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE=C:\W95\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF

/NUMHANDLES=128 represents the maximum number of extended memory block
handles (has no influence in Windows).
/TESTMEM:OFF loads HIMEM.SYS without taking an extra few miliseconds to test
all your system's extended memory. Most of the newer Pentium based system
BIOS-es do this at bootup time anyway.

NOTE: For detailed info on HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE parameters:
      1. Open MSDOSDRV.TXT with Notepad, a plain text file found in your
      Windows 95 folder. Read both the HIMEM.SYS and the EMM386.EXE topics.
      2. Pop in your Win95 install CD-ROM, change to your CD-ROM drive, go to
      the \OTHER\OLDMSDOS folder (found on Win95 install CD-ROM only) and run
      the HELP program from the CD-ROM with the following parameters (HELP.COM
      is a DOS program), as shown bellow:
      HELP HIMEM.SYS
      and then run:
      HELP EMM386.EXE

NOTE: the HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE memory managers MUST be loaded in
      CONFIG.SYS with the "DEVICE" command, before ANY OTHER DEVICE, INSTALL,
      DEVICEHIGH, INSTALLHIGH or/and SHELL commands !
      The CONFIG.SYS commands DEVICE, DEVICEHIGH, INSTALL, INSTALLHIGH, and
      the AUTOEXEC.BAT commands LOADHIGH (LH for short) are internal DOS
      commands, built into the OS.

My EMM386.EXE line in CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE=C:\W95\EMM386.EXE X=C000-C7FF I=EE00-EFFF I=E000-ECFF I=B000-B7FF M3
A=64 H=128 D=256 RAM AUTO ALTBOOT NOTR

The following is my "model" EMM386 line (acomodates almost all systems with a
standard MS Windows 95 and/or MS-DOS 6.xx setup):

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE X=C000-C7FF I=B000-B7FF D=256 RAM AUTO ALTBOOT

valid for both Win95 and MS-DOS 6.xx versions of CONFIG.SYS (if the dualboot
option is a choice on your system).
Change the path to EMM386.EXE if different than C:\WINDOWS.

Including and excluding addresses in upper memory (the "I" and "X" switches)
depends on your system CMOS, ROM, Option ROM, and Video BIOS configuration and
video card upper ROM memory addresses and can be tricky. Use these switches
with EXTREME CAUTION (if not properly set, your machine may lockup, or worse,
you may loose data!). You can see how these regions of upper memory are set on
your system, by running MSD.EXE at the DOS prompt, and pressing M (for the
memory screen).
To visualize the upper ROM regions (color coded in grey) occupied by
ROM/VGA/Video, CMOS and Extended BIOS memory hardware configuration you can
click "Utilities" on MSD's menu bar and then click "Memory Browser".
Then write down the hex addresses occupied by your upper ROM memory, and
exclude them, using as many as necessary X= switches on your EMM386.EXE line
in CONFIG.SYS (edit Config.sys with Notepad in Windows, or EDIT.COM in DOS).
EXAMPLE: Let's say that your "Option ROM" (one of the greyed areas in upper
memory, in your MSD memory screen) exists at EC00-ED00. You will need to add
an X= parameter to the EMM386.EXE line to exclude those addresses from your
extended memory manager upper memory map:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE X=EC00-ED00

A classical method to make more upper memory available to drivers/devices is
to add these 2 switches:

X=C000-C7FF I=B000-B7FF

to the EMM386.EXE line. C000-C7FF is usually reserved for the Video ROM BIOS,
and B000-B7FF region is only used for text on black and white (monochrome)
monitors, so it's safe to add these addresses to your EMM386 line.
The "M3" switch loads EMM386's page frame to the C800 upper memory address
(hex). On my system this gives maximum contiguous Upper Memory Blocks (UMBs)
used for loading drivers/TSRs "high".
The switch "NOTR" is NOT documented (prevents EMM386 from detecting a Token
Ring Network Adapter, which detection may hang some machines). "NOTR" is NOT
enabled by default (you need to add it to EMM386.EXE's line yourself, if you
don't use a network card connection).
TIP: Try to avoid the agressive "HIGHSCAN" switch on the EMM386.EXE line!
It may be dangerous to your health (it may hang your machine on bootup!).
The "RAM" switch does the same good job on searching the Upper Memory Area
(UMA) for unused UMB-s (Upper Memory Blocks).

It is useful to load drivers/devices/TSRs with the "DEVICEHIGH" command, to
gain more low (conventional) memory (RAM). A known method is to use MEMMAKER
to gain more memory (MS-DOS 6.00 and up users only!).
I recomend the manual tweaking, changing the order of loading drivers in
your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat until you're satisfied with the amount of
conventional memory reported by the "MEM /C /P" command. You can fiddle with
the "/L:1", "/L:2", "/L:3", etc. switches to determine your own best high
memory loading configuration. Example:

DEVICEHIGH /L:3 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS

to load the ANSI.SYS driver in Upper Memory (UMA)--region 3 (located on my
system between hex addresses EE00 and EFFF).

NOTE: READ REGIONS.TXT (Courtesy of Mr. Dale F. Ogden, and included here)
      FOR PRECIOUS INFO ON MS-DOS UPPER MEMORY MANAGEMENT AND UPPER MEMORY
      REGIONS MAPPING, IF YOU WANT TO MASTER YOURSELF THE WAY DEVICES,
      DRIVERS AND TSR-S LOAD IN YOUR CONFIG.SYS AND AUTOEXEC.BAT.

The order of loading the devices/drivers/TSRs is of utmost importance
(bigger first, smaller last). Same principles apply to loading devices,
drivers, or/and TSRs high in:
- CONFIG.SYS, using the "DEVICEHIGH" command.
- AUTOEXEC.BAT, using the "LOADHIGH" command ("LH" for short).

Example:
LH /L:2 C:\MOUSE\MOUSE

This means that my MS-DOS mode Mouse.com Driver loads in the 2nd upper
memory region, located between C800 and ECFF (addresses in hex), on my
system.

NOTE: THE EMM386.EXE LINE MUST FOLLOW THE HIMEM.SYS LINE IN CONFIG.SYS!
      All "DEVICE"/"DEVICEHIGH" commands in CONFIG.SYS MUST follow the
      HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE lines!

MEMORY TIP: I gave up on using MS-DOS's MemMaker (or QEMM's Optimize, or
            NetRoom's Customiz) utility, to gain more conventional memory.
            I modified the memory manager lines/parameters in CONFIG.SYS
            myself (and changed the order of loadind devices/drivers in
            CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT manually), only AFTER reading all
            the documentation related to each of the 3 memory managers I
            used (HIMEM.SYS + EMM386.EXE, or QEMM386.SYS, or RM386.EXE),
            and then experimenting with many possible configurations.
            It is a time consuming job, but rewarding, after I made all
            DOS and Windows programs work with the final configuration
            found in my startup files (CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT in this
            archive). Rewarding, because I have now 625KB of free
            conventional memory, and enough upper memory for Windows, with
            expanded memory enabled, in MS-DOS mode (outside Windows).

SWITCHES=/F - skips the 2 second delay before processing the startup files
	      after bootup (valid for all MS-DOS versions above 6.00 and
              including Windows 95).

SWITCHES=/E:288 - use this switch ONLY in Win95's CONFIG.SYS.
                  Moves ONLY 288 bytes of extended BIOS (EBIOS) to the
                  conventional memory area. Valid values for /E: are 48-1024.
                  You may gain up to 1KB of conventional memory by using this
                  switch. In order to adapt the /E: switch to your system, a
                  little try-and-error is necessary. Change the value for /E:
                  up from 64, in a 16 size decrements at a time, rebooting
                  with each separate configuration, until you get your best
                  free low RAM result (when you run MEM /C /P at DOS prompt).

Use both above switches on the same line:

SWITCHES=/E:288 /F

Make this your first CONFIG.SYS line (Win95 only).

NOTE: Also read the "SWITCHES" topic in MYTIPS95.TXT !

DOS=HIGH,UMB - loads the DOS kernel high and provides UMBs (upper memory
               blocks) for loading devices/drivers/TSRs in UMA (upper memory
               area).
               NOTE: Windows 95 has added another useful switch: AUTO (or
                     NOAUTO) to the DOS= line in CONFIG.SYS:

DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO or

DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO - Win95 OS can now move the FILES, STACKS, LASTDRIVE and
                    FCBS to the upper memory area (above the 1st 640KB).
                    The BUFFERS are moved to the high memory area (HMA), the
                    first 64KB of RAM above the first meg. These new features
                    are implemented in the Win95 OS and can be achieved by
                    adding these lines to the beginning of your CONFIG.SYS
                    (the numeric values here are only my own examples,
                    and you should change them to suit your own system):
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
BUFFERSHIGH=10,0
FILESHIGH=60
LASTDRIVEHIGH=H
FCBSHIGH=1,0
STACKSHIGH=0,0
                    or go with the "conservative" version (let the OS do the
                    work for you):
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
BUFFERS=10,0
FILES=60
LASTDRIVE=H
FCBS=1,0
STACKS=0,0
                    The AUTO switch doesn't need to be mentioned (it's the
                    default). By using AUTO, you may gain 256 bytes of low
                    memory compared to using DOS=NOAUTO and the HIGH switch
                    added to each of the above lines (BUFFERS, STACKS, FILES,
                    FCBS and LASTDRIVE).

FILES=n - where 'n' MUST be at least 40 to run MS Windows 31/95 and any CPU
          intensive DOS applications/games. Set files to at least 50 in your
          config.sys to play safe!

FCBS=1,0 - not to take extra memory. Higher values are needed only by older
	   DOS programs (very probable that you'll never need more than that)
	   If you don't specify a value for FCBS (File Control Blocks),
           MS-DOS loads the default value of 4. Newer programs use the
           "FILES" setting instead.

BUFFERS=10,0 - if you use ANY hard disk cache utility (SMARTDRV.EXE is
	       strongly recomended if you run any MS-DOS programs that
               access your hard disk frequently: use Smartdrv.exe to cache disk
               writes/reads in DOS mode). Avoid 3rd party disk caches that may
	       crash your hard disk, especially if you run Windows 95/3.1x !
	       The first number here (10) is the number of disk buffers.
	       Its value must be between 1-99. Default is 30 (if not
               mentioned) and occupies too much memory (30 buffers are not
               needed, and cannot fit entirely into the HMA anyway).
	       The second number here (0) is the number of buffers in the
	       secondary buffer cache. Its value must be between 0-8.
	       Default is 0 (no secondary cache buffers).
	       Secondary cache buffers are needed ONLY if your hard disk
	       (a SCSI disk) is not recognized or cached by SmartDrive.
               Use Smartdrv with Win95 (add a SMARTDRV line in Win95's
               AUTOEXEC.BAT), if you use any DOS programs/games that require
               frequent file access (huge files/directories).
               Doing so, it won't interfere with the Win95 disk operations.

STACKS=n,m - where "n" can be: 8-64 and "m" can be: 32-512. If you are
	     running older programs that rely on DOS stacks, set STACKS to
	     at least 12,128 (default is STACKS=9,256, set by DOS if you don't
             mention a STACKS= line in config.sys!). Newer DOS programs and
             Windows 3.1x/95 do NOT use DOS stacks! Set STACKS=0,0 in your
             config.sys to save conventional/upper RAM, if you're sure your
             programs don't use STACKS (your older software specifications
             should tell you if you should increase the STACKS number/s).

LASTDRIVE=n - where "n" is the letter following your last drive on your system
              (counting all your floppy, hard, CD-ROM, removable, Dblspace,
              Drvspace, Stacker, or other compressed drives, Network drives,
              and RAM virtual drives, if you installed any). You can specify
              any letter from A to Z. Default is Z, which represents the
              maximum number of logical drives on an IBM compatible system
              If you are not using a Network Card connection, set LASTDRIVE to
              show your last drive letter installed in your system.
              Example:
              LASTDRIVE=E

Generic line for your CD-ROM device driver:

DEVICEHIGH /L:1 C:\path\CD_ROM.SYS /D:MYCDROM

You also NEED to load MSCDEX.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, for your CD-ROM drive
to be recognized by the system! Typical mscdex line:

LH C:\path\MSCDEX /D:MYCDROM /M:xx /E

with EMM386 configured to provide expanded memory (EMM386's "RAM" switch) to
load the buffers in expanded memory ("/M:xx") with the  "/E" switch.
"/D:MYCDROM" is the cd-rom drive's "name" and MUST be the SAME as the one on
your cd-rom device driver line in your config.sys!

This command line loads MS Windows 95/3.1x 32 bit disk access support device
driver, called FastDisk:

DEVICEHIGH /L:1 C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS

NOTES: You can use any other third party memory manager on the market:
QEMM 8.00, NetRoom 3.0, 386MAX 8.00 with similar (or better) results.
Using DosMax (MS-DOS 6.xx only) with these memory managers may conflict with
their own "DosUp/DosHigh" features! I recomend to disable those "dosup/doshigh"
features and use DosMax's.
Also if you use any 3rd party memory managers, I recommend to NOT enable the
moving of Video/ROM BIOS to high/extended memory (like QEMM's "Stealth" or
NetRoom's "VidCloak" and "SysCloak" features!).
Also try to use MS-DOS's internal (any version above 5.00) "DEVICEHIGH" (in
your config.sys) and "LOADHIGH" ("LH" for short in your autoexec.bat) commands
to load devices/drivers/TSR-s high, instead of your third party memory
managers' external high/upper memory "loaders" (like QEMM's "LOADHI", or
NetRoom's "XLOAD") for better compatibility reasons. Some of these loaders may
interfere with certain DOS programs proper operation, and may lead to system
crashes!

The Win95 version of a SHELL command line in CONFIG.SYS:
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:512 /L:160 /U:160 /P /F
provided you have a copy of COMMAND.COM in C:\ root (change C: to your
actual boot drive letter, if different).
If you don't specify the /E: switch of 1024 or smaller (you won't need an
environment size bigger than 1024), Win95 will set it to 2048 by default,
which is much bigger than needed, and it will take a lot of valuable upper
and low memory space.
If you don't have a SHELL line in your CONFIG.SYS, Windows 95 loads its GUI
(Graphical User Interface) automaticaly after processing your CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files at bootup, and sets a default evironment size of 2048.
The purpose of starting Win95 on demand (and not right after processing the
startup files), is if you'd like to have a custom Win95 startup, let's say
from a DOS batch file, or from AUTOEXEC.BAT, or/and if you use the dual boot
feature implemented in the Win95 OS.
NOTE: Windows 95 is a combined 32bit AND 16bit (for backward compatibility
with DOS and Win31 programs) graphical (GUI) application (... sorry,
operating system) that still loads on top of DOS anyway!

* To load devices/drivers high, you can also use the INSTALLHIGH command
ONLY in your CONFIG.SYS. INSTALLHIGH is needed only if you have, for
example, a big size driver that you want to load before the smaller ones
that load in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (using LH command).
Example:
INSTALLHIGH C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.COM <parameters>
A disadvantage to using this command, is that you can't specify an upper
memory region (by using the /L:x switches, as you can use with DEVICEHIGH
and LH). Therefore, a particular driver will load into the largest
contiguous upper memory area if you use INSTALLHIGH.


                        My AUTOEXEC.BAT lines explained


* Lines you might need in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (Windows 95 and MS-DOS 6.xx):

LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MYCDROM /M:24 /E

The cd-rom drive's name (/D:MYCDROM in this example) HAS TO BE EXACTLY THE
SAME as the one specified on your CONFIG.SYS cd-rom driver command line (read
the config.sys cd-rom driver topic above);
/M:24 - gives MSCDEX 24 buffers to handle the cd-rom cache (if you don't
specify this switch, the default is 8, which could be too small for some DOS
programs to read huge cd-rom files);
/E - loads MSCDEX's buffers into expanded memory, provided you have a line
for EMM386.EXE in your config.sys. Bellow there is an example of EMM386 line
to provide expanded memory for loading MSCDEX buffers above the first meg):

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE X=C000-C7FF I=B000-B7FF D=256 RAM AUTO ALTBOOT

The following command lines are valid for both Win95 and MS-DOS 6.xx versions
of CONFIG.SYS.

NOTE: Always use the latest version of MSCDEX.EXE (the newest is 2.25, the
      one included with Win95). This is valid for both Win95 and MS-DOS 6.xx
      users (users of Win95's dualboot feature).

MSCDEX.EXE takes 23KB of conventional memory if loaded without the LH command
and 2KB per buffer unit above 4 (if loaded in upper memory). Use the /E
parameter with MSCDEX to load its buffers in extended memory!

Example of Smartdrv command line in AUTOEXEC.BAT:

C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SMARTDRV 2048 A+ C+ D /N

I presumed that A is your 3.5 inch floppy drive, C is your hard drive, and D
your CD-ROM drive. Change the drive letters if different on your system.
Load Smartdrv AFTER the MSCDEX line, if you want your CD-ROM drive to be
cached in DOS mode!
Run SMARTDRV /? at DOS prompt to see all Smartdrv related parameters, and to
understand how to adapt Smartdrv to your system.

NOTE: If you run any DOS programs/games OUTSIDE Win95 (ie in "Command prompt
      mode"), Smartdrv IS A MUST (customized to cache ALL read and write disk
      operations on ALL your drives)!

You can decrease Smartdrv's size to a minimum of 64KB (Microsoft recomends
128KB), if you want Smartdrv to cache your drives in DOS mode, and not to
perform caching in Windows:
SMARTDRV 2048 64 A+ C+ D /N
The first number represents Smartdrv's size in DOS mode, and the second number
represents Smartdrv's size in Windows (in this example Smartdrv is set to
cache all drives' reads and writes).

NOTE: If you don't use any DOS mode programs/games, DO NOT load Smartdrv!
      It only takes extra memory space.
      But if you find that besides having enough room in memory (preferably in
      upper) to spare, Windows 95 loads faster (as it does on my system, since
      I'm loading Win95 from a big DOS batch file) with Smartdrv loaded, then
      enable it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
      W95.BAT, my Win95 startup batch file is included here. Open it with
      Notepad.

SET MOUSE=C:\MOUSE (required to read the MOUSE.INI parameters at load time,
                   by the majority of DOS mouse drivers out there, by most
                   DOS programs, and by most Windows 95 and 3.xx virtual
                   mouse drivers, too).

LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE <your_mouse_driver_parameters>
to load your 16bit DOS mode mouse driver. You only need it with Win95, if you
use any DOS programs/games that use a mouse, outside win95 (ie, in "Command
Prompt Mode"). The above line allows your mouse driver to load the custom
settings from the MOUSE.INI file located in the directory specified (C:\MOUSE
in this case).
Change the DOS mouse driver's directory if different and adapt the parameters
to your own mouse driver specifications, and to your mouse hardware type.
If you never run DOS programs outside Win95 (MS-DOS mode only), then remove
these two lines pointing to your DOS mouse driver from your AUTOEXEC.BAT (or
CONFIG.SYS in some cases, if you use MOUSE.SYS devices).
A line that loads a mouse driver from CONFIG.SYS, looks something like this:

DEVICEHIGH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS <your_mouse_driver_parameters>


                              Conclusion


* My Win95 (and MS-DOS 6.22) CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, with
EVERYTHING loaded high, give me 625KB of free low (conventional) memory (RAM)
and 5KB of free upper memory (with MS-DOS 7.00's own HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE
memory managers). This IS ENOUGH to run ANY memory hungry DOS program/game in
MS-DOS mode (outside Win95)!
ALWAYS make sure to alocate ALL your computer's memory as expanded or
extended memory with your expanded memory manager (use EMM386's "RAM" switch
to provide expanded memory combined with "AUTO", OR use "NOEMS" to provide
ONLY extended memory).
NOTE: DO NOT USE "NOEMS" IF YOUR DOS PROGRAMS/GAMES NEED EXPANDED MEMORY in
      DOS MODE !

* If you don't use any DOS communications software, or if you're not
connected to a network, DO NOT LOAD SHARE.EXE in your autoexec.bat!
Like this you'll save some extra (valuable) KB of low or upper RAM.
To make this possible under Win95, you have to DELETE the file SHARE.EXE
from the \WINDOWS\COMMAND directory, and remove the:
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SHARE.EXE
line from the Win95's autoexec.bat (if any).
Windows 95 has its own 32bit (VXD) driver for loading VShare, that loads at
boot time in extended memory:
device=*vshare
this being a line in your Win95's SYSTEM.INI file, the [386enh] section
(no need to load a Share DOS driver in your autoexec.bat).
The file VSHARE.VXD is located in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder (default),
and is loaded automatically by Win95 startup routine.

* There is a good probability that if you're using a relatively new computer
(486DX/33 or better) and not using a network (or an old ESDI hard disk, or
an old hard disk compression utility), you won't need SETVER.EXE loaded in
your config.sys file.
If you determined that you don't need SETVER.EXE loaded (you're not using
any older IBM or third party ESDI/IDE hard disk drivers, or old disk
compressors, or older DOS network drivers), delete the file SETVER.EXE from
\WINDOWS\COMMAND (Win95 users default location) and remove the:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SETVER.EXE
line from your Win95's config.sys file.
If you'll need it later on, you can extract the file SETVER.EXE again and
copy it to your hard disk from your Win95 system install disk(s).


NOTE: ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DOS / WINDOWS STARTUP FILES BEFORE MAKING ANY
      CHANGES !!!

* MS-DOS 6.xx STARTUP FILES (default location is C:\ root):
AUTOEXEC.BAT
CONFIG.SYS
* WINDOWS 3.1x STARTUP FILES (located in your Win31 directory, \WINDOWS
is default):
SYSTEM.INI
WIN.INI
* MS-DOS 7.00 STARTUP FILES (default location is C:\ root):
AUTOEXEC.BAT
CONFIG.SYS
MSDOS.SYS a hidden, read-only, system file
* WINDOWS 95 STARTUP FILES (located in your Win95 directory, \WINDOWS
is default):
SYSTEM.DAT a hidden, read-only, system file
SYSTEM.DA0 a hidden, read-only, system file
USER.DAT a hidden, read-only, system file
USER.DA0 a hidden, read-only, system file
SYSTEM.INI
WIN.INI



Trademarks:

- MS DOS 5.00,
- MS-DOS 6.00,
- MS-DOS 6.20,
- MS-DOS 6.21,
- MS-DOS 6.22,
- MS-DOS 7.00,
- MS Windows 3.00,
- MS Windows 3.10,
- MS Windows for WorkGroups 3.10,
- MS Windows for WorkGroups 3.11,
- MS Windows 95 and
- MS Plus! for Windows 95
  are trademarks of Microsoft (COMERCIAL programs);
- NetRoom 3.xx is trademark of Helix Software (COMERCIAL program);
- QEMM 8.0x is trademark of QuarterDeck Systems (COMERCIAL program).



One Final Note:

I uploaded all these memory management tips in the hope that people like you
will find useful to have plenty of free conventional RAM to run any "nasty"
(read "memory hungry") DOS program/game on the planet!
Hope you'll find something useful in here. Enjoy!
If you have any comments/ideas/questions/sugestions etc... send me a
"wire" at:
AXCEL216@aol.com

Regards and best of luck!