[phobos]

I want to make my machine faster and I thought I have to disable some extensions
and control panels.The thing is that I don't
know which to disable.I have disabled some extensions that I know for sure that I don't
need but I have still enabled 160(!) Extensions and 30(!) something control panels.Don't tell me to use Extensions Overload because I have only the demo version
and it doesn't quite help.

[reader50]

More info needed.
What machine, RAM, & OS version are you running?
Is your Mac on a network?
Do you use a dialup internet connection or some type of broadband?
Do you have FireWire peripherals, such as digital camcorders?
What printer type?
What software do you primarily use?
Do you play any DVDs or audio CDs?

You can likely turn off a bunch of stuff, but I need this info to come up with a reasonably safe list.

[phobos]

I am using an iMac DV 400MHz with 256MB of
Ram OS9 with all the updates installed.No
my mac is not on network and I don't have a
printer.I use a firewire recorder and I play
also DVD's and music CD's.All the extensions
are from the Mac OS.I only use Photoshop,Bryce,Strata,Corel Draw,Toast,Scanwise(the program for the scanner,I forgot to say I have a scanner)
and that's about it.I have disabled
Fax Monitor
Fax Print
Palm connect USB
... USB Serial HAL
... USB Serial Shim
STFinit
Toast USB Support
Desktop Printer Spooler
File Sharing Extension
File Sharing library
Input Sprocket Gravis
... McAlly
... Side Winder
Laser Writer 8
Printer Share
Printing Lib
Setup Assisant Launcher
... Info Dispatcher
Speech Manager
Web Sharing Extension

What is icccodes,kdssys.It has no info.Do I
need them?
Also do I need
Microsoft Component Library
... Ole automation
... Ole Extension
... Ole Library
PfPick
Shareway IP personal
Bgnd
Input Sprocket keyboard

Also Do I need allthose things for the graphic cards.I think some are duplicate

ATI Graphics Accelerator
ATI 3D Acceleartor
ATI Driver Update
ATI MPP Manager
ATI rage 128 3D Accelerator
ATI Resource Manager
ATI Video Accelerator?

[yoyo52]

You might get yourself Extension Overload, a shareware app. It won't tellyou what to turn off, but it will tell you what all those extensions do.

[This message has been edited by yoyo52 (edited 07-29-2000).]

[Misha]

Transferring this to the Mac OS forum...

[reader50]

System Trimming/Speedup for OS 9.0.4
Remove any large folder alias from your Apple menu. An HD alias will slow down startup & take up a lot of memory with several thousand file listings. Turn off startup memory test: while opening memory CP, hold down Command-Option. You will see the Startup memory test at bottom. Turn this back on before adding any memory in the future. In the Appearance CP, go to Fonts tab. Turn off "Smooth All Fonts" at bottom. If you don't like the look of your fonts afterwards, turn it back on and play with the minimum font size (on right). The larger you set it, the less of a hit Font Smoothing puts on your system.

Virtual Memory
If you have 256 Megs or more, try leaving VM off. If you have the memory available, you will run faster with VM off.
If you have less than 256 Megs of real RAM, then turn VM on to 1 Meg larger than your real RAM. This causes only a small performance hit & will decrease your real memory usage by 10 or more Megs. That would allow you to allocate more memory to various applications as needed, speeding them up.
If you have less then 128 Megs of real RAM, then set VM to 129 Megs. Plan on buying more memory in the future.

Notes: Files not listed are 3rd party, or should be left alone. It is recommended that you turn files off, rather than deleting them.
Control Panels you may be able to disable
Appearance cool stuff
Apple Menu Options lets you customize Apple Menu
AppleTalk needed for some networking
CloseView magnifies the display
ColorSync not needed after colorsync profile has been set
Control Strip cool stuff
DialAssist might be useful for internet dialup setup
File Sharing
File Synchronization file sharing
FreePPP Setup If you use Remote Access
General Controls
Keyboard
Keychain Access security, password convenience
Launcher An alias uses less memory
Location Manager might want this if travelling with computer
Memory needed for a RAM disk
Multiple Users
Software Update cool stuff
Speech cool stuff
Web Sharing

Extensions you may be able to disable
Display Enabler old, may be installed by some old games
ActiveX Controls (folder) microsoft
AirPort AP needed for Airport
AirPort AP Support needed for Airport
AirPort Driver needed for Airport
Apple Enet needed for some networking
Apple Guide help menu
AppleShare needed for some networking
CarbonLib needed for Carbon apps, like AW6
Clipping Extension needed to view/use clippings, such as in the Scrapbook
ColorSync Extension not needed after colorsync profile has been set
Control Strip Extension needed by Control Strip CP
Default Calibrator sets the current colorsync
Desktop PrintMonitor printer stuff
Desktop Printer Spooler printer stuff
* DVD AutoLauncher needed to watch DVDs
* DVD Navigation Manager needed to watch DVDs
* DVD Region Manager needed to watch DVDs
* DVDRuntimeLib needed to watch DVDs
EPSON Launcher printer stuff
EPSON Monitor3 printer stuff
EPSON USBPrintClass1 not needed
EPSON USBPrintClass2 not needed
EPSON USBPrintClass3 not needed
EPSON USBPrintClass4 not needed
EPSON USBPrintClass5 not needed
FAXstf PPC Shared Library fax software
FaxMonitor fax software
FaxPrint fax software
FBC Indexing Scheduler Sherlock stuff
File Sharing Extension
File Sharing Library
Find By Content Sherlock stuff
* FireWire Enabler needed for FireWire DV stuff
* FireWire Support needed for FireWire DV stuff
Folder Actions cool stuff
FreePPP If you use Remote Access
IdleTime installed by AOL & AIM. not needed for AIM alone
Internet Access part of the initial setup assistants
Iomega Driver needed if you have a Zip or Jazz
LaserWriter 8 disable any printers you don't have
Location Manager Extension needed by Location Manager CP
MS Font Embed Library (PPC) microsoft
MS Library Folder microsoft
Microsoft Component Library microsoft
Multi-User Startup
Printer Share printer stuff
PrintingLib needed for LaserWriter 8
PrintMonitor printer stuff
* QuickTime FireWire DV Enabler needed for FireWire DV stuff
* QuickTime FireWire DV Support needed for FireWire DV stuff
Setup Assistant Launcher part of the initial setup assistants
Setup Info Dispatcher part of the initial setup assistants
Setup Internet Support part of the initial setup assistants
Setup Modem Selector part of the initial setup assistants
ShareWay IP Personal Bgnd file sharing
Software Update Engine needed by Software Update CP
Software Update Scheduler needed by Software Update CP
SpeakableItems cool stuff
Speech Manager cool stuff
Speech Recognition cool stuff
STF Toolbox faxing
STFInit faxing
* StuffIt Engine highly recommended for Internet use
* StuffIt Engine PowerPlug highly recommended for Internet use
TCPack for AOL might need if you are stuck with AOL
Time Synchronizer needed to set time from network, or switch to Daylight Savings & back automatically
USB Software Locator used by Software Update
USBAppleMonitorModule might need if you use an Apple monitor with USB
Voice Verification security stuff
Web Sharing Extension needed by Web Sharing CP

System Folder
MacTCP DNR obsolete, but deleting causes some problems. Disable
AOL NetFind.src unless you have AOL

Leave the ATI, Quicktime, and Quickdraw stuff alone. They are needed for optimum graphics performance.
If you use no Microsoft software (like me), you can turn off (or delete) all the files listed as belonging to Microsoft. If you sometimes turn the MS files off temporarily to free up memory, delete the Microsoft Internet Self-Repair folder in the Internet -> Applications folder. Otherwise, if something causes IE or Outlook to boot, and the extensions are not present, an MS installer will launch and reinstall extra copies of all the MS extension files.
Input Sprockets stuff is used for gaming devices, such as multi-button mice, joysticks, game pads, steering wheels. You might need them just to launch some games.

I run with most of these off. For gaming, I turn all of them off. Turning all of these off will not prevent your system from booting from either the internal HD, or the internal CD. Be careful if your system boots off something different, such as a Zip.

phobos, I have put an asterisk by files you would definitely want to leave on. I have never run into icccodes, kdssys, or PfPick. Email .hqx or .sit copies of the files to me if you really want to, but they were most likely installed by one of your applications, either past or present.

Anyone else should ignore the asterisks, and adjust this list based on their individual system.

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 07-29-2000).]

[reader50]

Yes, I know it is a big post. Copy it out, and look it over offline. Just click on the Edit Post icon and then click in the text window. Command-A to select all, Command-C to copy, and click on the Back button on your browser to back out.

Open SimpleText (or other word processor) to a new document, click in the new document, Command-V to paste in my post. Save to hard disk.

Look over as much as you like. Most everyone will want to fiddle the settings to their individual taste. You should get faster booting, a general speedup, and more free memory. How much you get can depend a lot on how much cool stuff you are willing to live without.

Have fun.

[Cipher13]

160 INIT's and 30 CDEV's isn't a big system. My system has been trimmed and trimmed and trimmed, and I still have 228 INIT's and 31 CDEV's.
Also trim your fonts folder (speeds up loading of certain apps), and clean out your System file. Delete any sounds you don't use, and any keyboard sets you don't use.
Clean out the CSM and CMI folders (control strip modules and contextual menu items). Also you may as well take any aliases out of the Apple Menu Items folder that you don't access through the Apple menu.

Cipher13

[wlonh]

does no one remember 'text clippings'?

highlight text, then click on the highlighted text and hold and drag and drop onto desktop, bingo

there now, so much easier!

[wlonh]

and, from another illustrious member of the fora comes this tidbit:

SillyPooh
Member

Posts: 26
Registered: May 2000 posted 07-28-2000 11:24 AM ��� ���� ��
---------------------------------------------------------HD aliases in the Apple menu are a bad thing?
My programming experience has to tell you that this is an old and wrong belief. Aliases are just pointers to the original items. They are not dynamic nor the system keeps track of what they are unless the original item is moved.

[reader50]

wlonh, I did think of that. But every time I just highlight and copy or drag from forum pages, I get the stuff in the left column also. The formatting comes out really rotten, you have to spend half an hour cleaning it up.

Do you have any tricks I haven't run across yet? Would love to have it simpler.

easy is good. easier is better.

[yoyo52]

At least with IE 5, you can select the text in the actual message without getting any of the left hand stuff--and the message ends up as a simple text file with formatting intact

[reader50]

Hey, it will let me select just the message frame contents. Very nice. Guess I was starting my drag in the wrong place, or the 4.74 update fixed it. Come to think of it, this is the first time I have tried since going to 4.74.

Thanks, yoyo52

Let MS software onto my hard drive?!?

Halo will be welcome.

[reader50]

<mumble> <grumble> <grrrrr>

It does let me select just the text in the right hand frame, but you still get the leading spaces, and incorrect formatting on the paste end.

And I can't grab the forum text to drag. Highlight & copy only. Yes, my Clipping Extension is on.

MS is still barred from my HD until Halo. Can't let them get a foot in the door. Guess I may be the only one here who has to do copies the hard way. Oh, well.

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 07-30-2000).]

[wlonh]

nonsense, text clippings works perfectly with IE5


oh sure, thank yoyo52... don't thank me... no, that would be to much to ask, just because i was the first to mention how to be smooth and easy


thanks yoyo52... say, you remind me of a certain character in that Joseph Heller book... Catch-22

my AIM is true!

[reader50]

Thank you wlonh.

ps I did think to thank you also, just never while agonizing over the posts.

Enjoy your IE5. And my AIM works pretty good also. I prefer it to ICQ most days (nights?).

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 07-30-2000).]

[Evangellydonut]

Forgive me for not having read the entire thread to detail, but here's something I've been pondering. Since the initial development of OSX, which will no longer support Control Panel and extensions, they seem to be "fading out." Now you go to the control-panels folder, most of the files you see are applications. That lead me to believe that the applications are NOT loaded into memory at startup, because if it is, then it has to be running, and process-manager of sort will recognize it, no?
Also, extensions are making way to general libraries which doesn't really hit the start-up speed either...I haven't done real-life test of disabling massive amount of libraries and control panel applications to back-up my argument, which was based on logical assumptions...anyone have hard data to prove otherwise?
Oh, and fonts take up uncessary memory and slow application launching times, which may or may not include the Finder itself...so that's something worth cleaning every so often...

[wlonh]

you are sharp, Evangelly, and i believe your observations are correct (i know that OS X requires that the cdevs be apps) and i am sure that someone will know what blanks to fill in for you, or corrections, or whatever was wrong in your reasoning (if anything) will be brought to light by someone

[phobos]

Thank you very much reader50!
Thanks for your time.

[Gregory]

Control Panel apps: give 'em more memory, like EM - loads much faster. Same with Find by Content Indexing - you can disable the group, enable when you want, run it, and then disable if you wish - but DO give indexing app more memory (2000k default, set to 5000k - you'll see a boost in performance).

Any Microsoft stuff move it out, run office and let it install, then move to MS Office 98 = > Office folder. Then do basically the same for IE (move to IE application folder), and move to OE folder as well. No more interaction - they'll use their own and IE/OE/Office (for me) is rock solid.

cutting down on Apple extenisons that are background apps (control strip is one) reduce likelihood of memory fragmentation and increase stability. Prunning extensions I was able to reclaim 10MB and stability. The default Memory disk cache with 256MB is 8MB - too high from my experience - 4MB does not impact performance one iota.

A fast hard drive and puttiing VM on its own partition, #2 in order after system's, even with 256MB, I am not seeing VM being slower. Even on b&w the OEM Maxtor is too slow for anything but backups and a IBM 75GXP is 4x faster on benchmarks with close to ATA/33 max of 32MB/sec sustained.

Partitioning and fast hard drive will help speed up startups. Did someone mention turning off the memory test on cold starts?

But do put your system on the first partition - with ample room - keeps it optimized and outside of a drive is the fastest.

Greg

[Gregory]

Extension Overload is a good utility with error codes also included, but CC8 is available for download for $40 and much better and prevents old incompatible extensions from being enabled which could lead to crashes, or just slow system down - seen it happen.

However, TechTool Pro 3 offers a lot including conflict database testing and virus as well as disk utility and hardware diagnostics as well as many many tests and repairs including PRAM. Have to see but Disk Warrior is essential to have around for healthy disk directory, but TTP may make that mute also...

I would slurge on some one or couple utilities. Even Apple EM will show you "Packages" which can help know what to disable as a group - but not prevent you from disabling essential files. (Give the EM control panel 1000k to have it load 4x faster).

Greg

[yoyo52]

Hey Gregory, I know it's a typo, but I love the word "slurge"--have any idea what it means? Maybe here could be a new Lounge thread on defining the term

And wlonh, although I haven't been naked in a tree of late, I have moved some front lines on maps

[This message has been edited by yoyo52 (edited 07-30-2000).]

[wlonh]

arrrggghhh, CC8 the app i love to hate!

really, less is often more and simple is beautiful, and CC8 is lame...

it is 'hand-holding' software that really is not necessary these days and i question whether it ever was, i know i did not ever need it and i assure you i am not so special!

System 7 days come to mind, CC could have been somewhat useful back then, imnsho. but i never used it but once even then and as a demo, and i disliked it entirely... made me think of Rube Goldberg inventions!

[reader50]

Concerning the standard advice to speed up booting/free up memory: I got curious enough to do some boot testing with a stopwatch.

I started with my normal system. 64 Meg, 128 VM, 1 Meg Ram disk (for SETI), one disk image in the Startup Items folder. Note that my system is already somewhat trimmed. Time was measured from the end of the startup chime, to when the Finder stabilized. That includes mounting the disk image. Memory was checked in the About This Computer dialog, and is the Largest Free Block value. Normal configuration was restored between different tests. Exception: The desktop was left rebuilt after the rebuilding step.

Test procedure:

• 1:17, 102.8 Free: Normal system reference, 3 tests.
  -Placed HD alias in Apple menu. HD contains 23,235 items.
• 1:26, 102.8 Free: HD alias in Apple menu, 3 tests.
  -Considering great consistency of values, and great boredom of tests, shortened tests to one per configuration.
• 1:16, 103.0 Free: Removed CP applications from CP folder.
• 1:17, 102.9 Free: Removed CP cdevs from CP folder.
• 0:58, 40.6 Free: Shift-boot. Startup Items were not started up. VM disappeared. RAM disk disappeared.
• 0:53, 114.8 Free: Extensions folder dragged to desktop. Startup Items started up. VM stayed on. RAM disk mounted.
• 1:16, 102.9 Free: Fonts folder dragged to desktop.
• 1:12, 104.1 Free: Startup Items folder dragged to desktop.
  -Move all desktop files (and 2 AppleShare PDS files) to trash. I had not rebuilt my desktops in a couple of weeks.
• 5:18, 103.9 Free: Rebuild 5 desktops. I don't know why the free memory went up a meg.
• 1:17, 102.9 Free: Normal system with fresh desktops.
• 0:03, 102.8 Free: Normal system, return from Sleep.

Results sorted based on best relative effect:
(time saved, MB saved)

• 1:14, 0.0MB: Return from Sleep: Best restart time, no memory effect.
• 0:24, 12.0MB: Remove Extensions folder.
• 0:19, ?.?MB: Shift-boot: Turns VM off. RAM disk does not mount. Startup Items ignored.
• 0:09, 0.0MB: Remove an HD alias from Apple menu.
• 0:05, 1.2MB: Remove Startup Items folder.
• 0:01, 0.0MB: Remove Fonts folder. Apparently fonts are loaded only as needed.
• 0:01, 0.1MB: Remove CP applications.
• 0:00, 0.0MB: Remove CP cdev's.

Differences of 2 seconds or less, and 0.1 MB or less can be ignored. Chalk it up to measurement error.

General Conclusions
Removing an HD alias from the Apple menu, and removing extensions seem to give the best results. Having stuff in the Startup Items folder adds directly to startup time. Removing control panels (of either type) yielded no measurable benefit, but you might get complaint dialogs if a CP is still present while the extension the CP needs is absent.

Shift-booting does more than just ignore Extensions and Startup Items, it also kills the VM and the RAM disk. I am not sure about the benefit of removing fonts. The Finder after all is not a word processor and probably loads very few fonts. Thinning out the fonts would likely benefit application programs that make heavy use of them. That last is just a guess, no application tests were performed.

Sleep seems to be the wave of the future. If only the PCI manufacturers will get the cards up to date, so all capable systems will be able to deep-sleep (turn off power supply fan).

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 07-30-2000).]

[phobos]

Hey Gregory what do you mean when you say
that 8 MB of cache memory is too high?It
slows the system?I don't remember any difference when the cache was 4MB.But I'm not
sure.I think also that 8MB made the system faster.Please tell me more about it.

[Cipher13]

I have 128 RAM and have disk cache set at 8 meg - would I get better performance from having it at 4 meg? That doesn't make much sense to me...

Cipher13

[wlonh]

the disk cache setting should either be at default value or bumped higher if you want to experiment

MacOS sets the cache to a default value dependent upon how much RAM you have installed

i get excellent results by leaving it at default value

[Gregg]

I didn't see anyone mention Inform Init, another shareware extension tracking app that might be useful. I have downloaded it, and Extension Overload, but have never delved into either one.

Gregg

[Gregory]

slurge away! I use CC8 to prevent incompatible extensions from installing, seeing the most recent installed, and easy to create sets. I use to be a bug sleuth looking for extension conflicts. I know it is not 100% loved by all. InformINIT hasn't been updated and Extension Overlooad isn't essential. But I don't find EM to be great either. I like to be able to see more than what EM lists.

I wanted to see if I could reduce system memory footprint -- while doing so reduced disk cache from 8MB gradually to 4MB w/o any performance hit (I have 256MB so 8MB is default. I'd raise it to 16MB if I could and if it made a difference.)

8MB disk cache w/ 256MB the "rule" breaks down. and it isn't being used wisely. With VM off maybe it does - but again, I've been a hold-out and against using VM but I had to find out and have been leaving it on - because it will be on by default under X, because MacsBug has those "and it probably isn't VM's fault" in stdlog dumps, and more than one respected developer encouraged "trying it."

VM does things that act in such a way that disk cache duplicates???

I am not saying disk cache of 8MB slows the system - only that 4MB did not impact performance one iota - that it may waste and may duplicate VM paging and what it keeps in memory.

An investment in a high end drive is better use of $$$ than any of the speed startup/doublers out there. But I do 'slurge' on utilities just to keep programmers working and improving... (until FWB HDT 4

A nice think about control panel apps is that they can be put anywhere and launched at will, and giving them more memory usually helps. Unfortunately Apple doesn't give them a preferred size to realize - or the size is "inaccurate" and EM really does need more memory to scan and load to build its list. Users shouldn't have to tweak Indexing, EM and others that have preferred set too small. That's what minimum is there for.

Hard to believe that Mac OS 9.1 will likely be end for extensions and all that and having to "start fresh" and learn a new way of doing things.

Greg

[B.I.L]

"I have never run into icccodes, kdssys, or PfPick." I believe these are part the Kodak color management installed by Adobe applications. If you do a Get Info on them, all are copyright Eastman Kodak. I have disabled all the Kodak stuff on my machine (7500/150mhz/96mb wading thru OS 9.04, ugh) and Photoshop and llustrator have not complained. But if you have a decent system (G3/128mb) and use Adobe stuff more than once a year, I would leave them in.

Does anyone know what all that Kodak stuff is specifically for? There's a ton of it!