Hey, has anyone tried this shareware?

[Cannikin73]

After reading everything I could at this forum on increasing my performance, I decided to seek a higher power. I prayed to the digital godess, Kim Komando.
I found a shareware utility called Cacheman. It frees up memory and does a few tweaks to your system.
I just got it installed and did a quick 'recover memory now' and it claims to have freed up 17mb. I booted FS9 where I was parked at JFK in the default 737 and I FEEL an increase in my performance.
Like I said, I just did this so I havent done any before and after frame rate comparisons but I wanted to come here to see if anyone had tried this before and what results they got.
Like I said, is shareware, but it is fully functional for 15 days.

[bigal1977uk]

Ive got an older version of cacheman that does exactly the same thing but its freeware forever ;-)


Its all in the mind im affraid ;-)

17mb isn't gonna make the slightest difference to fs9, unless your running a system thats only got 64mb ram to start with.

You'd get better performance by disabling cacheman ( and any other programs ) before you start fs9.

Use EndItAll or KillWin :-)

Post your specs and ill see what i can advise you to do to get better performance :-)

[Cannikin73]

Bump...I'd like a few more replies!

The newest version I use claims to do a few more tweaks than JUST freeing up some RAM.
I still say I see in increase in performance. Especially with AI turned on. I'm on my way to work, so I cant do any tests until tonight. And about that whole shareware thing....they ASK that you pay for it after 15 days, but it doesnt disable itself or limit functions at all.

[pc_fs]

hmm, havn't tried it.. but I agree with reply #2, use EndItAll or WinKill before you fly.

[MikeAdamo]

Hi,

Many of the tweaks cacheman makes can be done manually in the registry thus saving processor cycles and memory. Now, not everyone is comfortable poking around the registry making changes so Cacheman "could" be of some benefit but, I wouldn't use the auto memory recovery feature. I used Cacheman for a while but found that during the memory recovery cycle, FS would crawl, stutter, and pause. It wasn't worth the small amount of recovered memory. If you decide to check the Do not recover on high CPU usage option, Cacheman will never try to recover memory while FS is running as it is a high CPU application so it defeats the purpose there as well.

You're milage may vary but, I would suggest staying away form that application if your prime use of it will be for FS.

My $0.02 worth!!

Mike

[Cannikin73]

Thanks, Mike. Thats what I wanted to know....but, to say I'm unfamiliar (But willing) with making changes in the registry.
Where could I learn more about it?

And thanks to an earlier post as well..I've already been using Enditall or however you spell it!

[MikeAdamo]

Hi,

The sites I use for most of my tweaks are TweakXP (www.tweakxp.com) and Registry Guide For Windows (http://www.winguides.com/registry/).
The tweaks give good details on where to find the keys you need to adjust or add so it's fairly easy. Here's an easy reading article on the registry: http://www.netpanel.com/articles/computer/editreg.htm

I would HIGHLY recommend that you backup your registry before making ANY changes.

To save a backup of your windows registry (just so you have a copy easily accessible on a floppy or CD).

Open 'regedit' (Registry Editor), by clicking 'start', 'run', then type 'regedit', and click on 'Registry' at the top left, now click on 'Export Registry file', and type in a name for your backup, (i.e.: Reg Backup), and choose the destination you want to save it to, then click Save.

To restore a Saved backup.

You can open regedit and click on 'Registry' and 'Import a registry file', (backup).

If your having trouble booting your computer normally, you can boot up in 'Safe Mode' then you can click on 'start', 'run', and type regedit, then click on 'Registry', then 'Import registry file', and just navigate to the backup file that you saved.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

Mike

[apollosmith]

An even better solution than the memory freeing programs is to not have the memory intensive programs load in the first place. Most computers have many processes and programs that start when the computer starts that do absolutely no good. Look down by your system clock in the lower right corner of your screen. If you don't use the icons that are down there, then you're running programs that are taking system resources and doing you no good.

The problem with cacheman, enditall, etc. is that they try to free up memory after it has already been allocated, and this doesn't work very well, as most system processes leave traces behind and this also results in memory fragmentation.

I use a program called StartUp Control Panel - http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

It's a great, free, and very small program that allows you to turn off selected items when they you start your computer. With it, I've never had a need for these other programs.

- Smitty