re: Question about 'Do I still need CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT?'
Saturday, October 19, 2002 at 10:53 am
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Art
(44 messages posted)
I use Win98se with out either autoexec or config.
If you use the old programs, doesn't it slow things down? Thus making the changes
in memory useless.
I believe they use 8 and 16 bit instead of 32..??
Art
On Saturday, October 19, 2002 at 3:59 am, Jim Bilow wrote:
>I have a response to Do
>I still need CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT?:
>
>I disagree. I am a PC tech of 24 years standing, and continually add three lines
>to the config.sys. They are:
>
>DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
>DOS=HIGH, UMB
>DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM
>
>There are several ways to enter these lines. In Windows 98, use Start\Run\MS-CONFIG
>or Start\Run\SYSEDIT. In Windows 95 or 98, you can enter them in DOS.
>
>What they do is allow Windows and the DOS Shell to access the upper memory blocks
>(UMB's) during startup, thus freeing up more lower (conventional) memory. The practical
>upshot is that machines running with 475 - 590 kb's of free conventional memory
after
>loading Windows will have more (generally 20 - 30 kb's) conventional memory free
>after Windows loads. The "benchmark" amount is 580 kb. If you are have less than
>580 kb's free after loading Windows, programs will perform illegal operations (especially
>the memory intensive ones like MS Office, Autocad, games, etc.).
>You can check this number in Windows 95 or Windows 98 by going to an MS-DOS prompt
>whilst in Windows. Type mem/c/p then press enter once. It will give you a table
>listing all "Modules using memory beelow 1 MB".
>Look just above "Memory Summary:" at the "Free" line. The aggregate (total) for
>the Conventional column (3rd and 4th numbers to the right of "Free") is the important
>one here. Typically, after entering my three favorite lines of code in the config.sys,
>we see a number between 602 and 612 KB. To end, press enter again, then type exit
>and press enter.
>
>This legacy issue stems from two things.
>1st generation AT's from the early nineteen-eightys used up to but not above 640
>KB RAM. That basic configuration still haunts us today. A PC with 4 MB, 256 MB
>or 2.5 GB of RAM and any amount in between is still restricted to a basic premise.
> Software still launches in the first 640 KB. If the software needs 600 KB to launch,
>and you only have 580 KB (or, God forbid, 520KB) free after Windows loads, you will
>get an illegal opration error as sure as the sun's going to come up tomorrow. I
>have seen other anomolies which can also be fixed with my favourite three lines.
>So far, this is the only work around I have found.
>
>If anyone knows more about this issue, or has more insight, please let me know.
>
>Nobody has re-invented that wheel yet, even though Microsoft et al would like to
>ignore and forget about it.
>
>As an additional note, if you have a device driver for your CD-ROM loading in the
>config.sys but not the autoexec.bat, you can almost always REM the one in the config.sys
>and have the CD-ROM still work in Windows. I say "almost always" because I have
>seen CD-ROM's which needed one or both drivers loaded to work in Windows.
>Not loading the CD-ROM in the config.sys by typing REM and a space at the beginning
>of the line will free up a lot of conventional memory below 640 KB.
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