Hi all,

(Running OS in RAM is below this Trick for those that have enough RAM to
do it, but if not, there another way to Speed it up by adding a small HD
that I hope will be of help those with small RAMs.)

* OS on a small HD all by itself. *

I you crash a lot and have to format you HD often, try this.

Get a small HD like 4 Gig and set it up as you C:\ Drive and only
install Windows on it, and nothing else.
Install all your other Programs including IE and OE on other Drives (D:,
E, F ect).

Export a copy of your Registry to Disk or one of the other HD's.
Do the same with IE favorites under C:\Windows\Favorates (including all
sub folders) and your NS Bookmarks.

Now if you crash you only have to reinstall your OS and nothing else.
Just import your old Registry, Favorites and Bookmarks.

Saves a lot of work reinstalling of all your other programs and not
having to set them up the way you like them from scratch again or lose Data.

***

* Run OS in RAM Speed Trick *

If you have Gigs of Ram try this.
Programs run in RAM run 1000 times faster than off a HD or CD !!!
How about running your OS there !

The way to do this is with a Ram Drive but the one that comes with
Windows is too small but others make bigger Ram Drives that are not
expensive.

Ram Drive is software to trick your Computer into thinking part of it's
RAM Memory is a Hard Disk Drive.
You must have enough RAM left over to run programs outside the RAM Drive
so you might want to upgrade your RAM Memory.

Once you have a Ram Drive, install Windows on Drive C as normal.
But put IE and OE on another HD.

Then use a Program like Norton's Ghost to Copy your OS to another HD and
Burn it (Windows OS) to CD.
Use your Autoexec.bat and or Config.sys Files load the RAM Drive on
Bootup and Load the OS from the CD to the RAM Drive and Execute Win.exe
on that RAM Drive to run Windows.

Then do your Windows Update and use that Norton Ghost or other program
to Copy the RAM Drive to HD and or Burn that to CD.
You can use you Autoexec or Config to run the Saved OS on the (D:, E,
ect...) HD for those Updates that must be installed alone and rebooted
after.
Install all your Programs then save the OS in RAM Drive to CD and your
on your way.

You'll also have to do this every time you install/uninstall a Program
but you'll also always have a clean OS on Boot even if infected with a
Trojan or Virus.

And the Speed Boost of OS running in RAM has a 4 GHZ Computer run like a
50 GHZ Computer.
Are you a Gammer, do a lot of Multitasking or Audio/Video ?
Then this could be an option for you.

Before shutting down if you want to keep the Reg settings that changed
after the OS is installed you just copy your Registry again and import
it back to Windows in the RAM Drive if you don't want to Burn it to CD.
If you install a new Program you'll want to do this so you can Burn a
new OS CD with the new Registry or just import it when you want to use
that program.

When you reboot you install a Fresh OS each time making it very hard for
a Virus or Trojan to take hold.
You can still get infected by user error but it's much easier to clean
when you cut it out of the OS.

Always use a Firewall and if on a Broad Band Connection get behind a NAT
Router even if you have only one Computer.
It's better than a Software Firewall but I'd still use one with the NAT
anyway.

Hope this is of interest to you.
Good luck.

!:?)
Kevin