Optimizing 16 bit and console based applications in Windows 2000/XP

There comes a time in nearly ever career IT professional when they are faced with the challenge of integrating operations and speeding up processes of legacy applications. Even with fast optimized workstations some applications may appear to crawl.

The key to working with these applications is first to find out what their function is, since their existence may only be a duplication of the users daily work. If it appears as duplication you should move all data contained within that application and move it directly to the newer application that fills their need, and is more than likely faster, more reliable, etc.

Unfortunately those are the ideal circumstances. It has been my experience that most of the time the data can not be easily moved or exported at all because undocumented proprietary data formats were used, and the original software vendor is out of business, doesn't support the software, uncooperative, or just tries to force individuals to pay for absorbent upgraded versions or programming fees.

So what can you do to speed up the application? Well first you need to find the programs critical factors of performance. Often times these programs are processor/ram intensive with several small packets of data that are sent across the network.

BY MAKING CHANGES TO YOUR SYSTEM YOU RISK SYSTEM STABILITY AND OVERALL PERFORMANCE. THESE MODIFICATIONS ARE OFFERED FREE OF CHARGE AND AS SUCH YOU MAINTAIN SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY CHANGES YOU MAKE TO YOUR SYSTEM OR SOFTWARE THERIN.

Run your Network over a pure TCP/IP protocol: Additional unused chatty protocols waste valuable throughput and bandwidth
on your network. Eliminate all unnecessary protocols so that your network communications are more responsive. Go to 'Start' -> 'Settings' -> Control Panel and choose network and dial up connections. Double click your Loacal Area Connection and choose properties. Ideally you should only have 'Client for Microsoft networks', 'File and printer sharing', and 'TCP/IP'.

Alter your 'Config.NT' file:
First and foremost for many applications you can change the amount of system resources that are dedicated to your system. Click 'Start' -> 'Run' and type 'config.nt'. Open the file type with notepad when prompted. Add the following lines to initialize your windows environment to dedicate more resources to DOS applications.

FILES=100
BUFFERS=100

You need to restart your computer for these changes to take effect. Try modifying these values to find what works best for you. Files should be within the range of 100 - 250 max. Buffers should be 60 to 120 max. Certain values usually end up slowing down Overall or DOS performance, however the above is fairly safe. Setting files to 200 is also a common setting for fast computers.

Altering the Environment:
Sometimes Windows not necessarily pick up your changes from the config.nt file, or additional modifications should be made. Right click on 'my computer' and choose 'properties'. Choose 'Advanced' tab. Click 'performance' and be sure 'Applications' is 'selected'. If more than 1 available hard drive is present on the machine then you can move the swap file (page file) to the second hard drive to speed up your system over all. In this case click Change. Select your second hard drive and set the initial size to the recommended size plus 2 MB. Change the maximum size to 2 or three times the amount ram you have. This should be a minimum of 256. Click 'Set'. Select you 'C' Drive and change min and max page file size values to 0. If you are not planning on installing several programs in your computer, set your max registry size to 5 MB above what is currently being used. Click 'set' and 'Ok' your way out of the grey boxes, then restart your computer.


Alter the Pif:
Sometimes you may wish to Change the buffers and files for each 16 bit application you have. If you minimize the application you can right click on it's title on the task manager bar across the bottom of your screen then choose 'properities'. Also you will see similar options if you right click the shortcut. For simplicity set them to the same options. It has been my experience that when you run in full screen mode you get about 5\%-10\% more speed on many systems.


Preload the WOWEXEC.EXE process:
This process is required to run 16 bit applications in windows 2000/XP, and therefore must be loaded first. By preloading it you can eliminate the initial delay from running console and DOS based applications. Make a shortcut in your 'Start' -> 'Programs' -> 'Startup' folder. You can find this program file in C:WINNTsystem32WOWEXEC.EXE (C:Windowssystem32WOWEXEC.EXE for XP users).

This concludes my modifications you can make for some legacy 16 bit programs. Though there are many other modifications you can make, these simple ones tend to make the most significant impact on the average workstation. There are additional methods to increasing speed such as making a virtual RAM-Disk on your system and making each instance of a 16 bit application run in it's own memory space using a battery command. See my links section for more info.