ad info

CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 ASIANOW
 U.S.
 LOCAL
 POLITICS
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
   computing
   personal technology
   space
 NATURE
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 HEALTH
 STYLE
 IN-DEPTH

 custom news
 Headline News brief
 daily almanac
 CNN networks
 CNN programs
 on-air transcripts
 news quiz

  CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 TIME INC. SITES:
 MORE SERVICES:
 video on demand
 video archive
 audio on demand
 news email services
 free email accounts
 desktop headlines
 pointcast
 pagenet

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

 SITE GUIDES:
 help
 contents
 search

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 WEB SERVICES:
Tech

From...

How fast is Windows 98?

June 2, 1998
Web posted at: 11:40 AM PT

by Scott Spanbauer

PC World's crack editorial testing team squandered countless hours using the latest release of Windows 98 on a range of PCs, from 66-MHz 486 systems to 300-MHz Pentium IIs. Though the version we tested was close to final code, it didn't have every last tweak in place. Still, weeks of informal testing show the new operating system to be about as stable and a hair faster than Windows 95.

First Things First

Windows 98's first trick, faster start-up, has one big catch. To take advantage of this feature, you need a FastBoot BIOS--and machines that support this system are just beginning to appear. These new PCs skip the long system testing and initialization phase that occurs when you first power them up.

We tested Windows 98's quicker start-up using a FastBoot-equipped Toshiba Tecra 750DVD notebook. Although FastBoot enabled the PC to zip through the initial start-up phase (which happens before Windows begins to load), Windows 98 booted noticeably slower overall than Win 95 on the Tecra, mostly due to the extra time it took to load Internet Explorer 4.0's Active Desktop applet. Since there's no way to uninstall IE, there's no way around this problem.

Quicker Out the Door

Faster shutdowns are another story. Windows 98 noticeably improves on Win 95 in this area, especially for systems connected to a network (including those using Dial-Up Networking). The reason? While Windows 95 waits patiently for network connections to close in an orderly fashion before telling you to power off the system, Windows 98 just pulls the plug. It's a nice innovation that won't cause problems with your network.

 MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
  IDG.net home page
  PC World home page
  FileWorld find free software fast
  Make your PC work harder with these tips
 Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
    IDG.net's desktop PC page
  IDG.net's portable PC page
  IDG.net's Windows software page
  IDG.net's personal news page
  Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
  Search IDG.net in 12 languages
 News Radio
  PC World News Radio
  Computerworld Minute audio news for managers
     

Launch Tests

Most of our testers reported noticeable if not dramatic improvements in application launching under Windows 98. Standard business apps that were woefully inefficient to start with tended to benefit most. Ponderous loaders like Navigator 4.0 and Word 97 started up faster on most systems, while relatively speedy applications like Excel 97 showed comparatively little improvement.

Better Memory Management

Windows 98's last big performance tweak is the toughest to explain and the hardest to measure. DOS and Windows have long boosted performance by using disk caching--keeping a copy of the most likely needed and the most frequently accessed disk files in a chunk of RAM set aside for the job.

Windows 98's caching introduces a time- and memory-saving shortcut dubbed MapCache. Instead of copying files from cache into main memory, Windows 98 treats the cache's contents as part of main memory. The result: Windows doesn't have to copy the file (a time-saver), and consequently it expends only half as much RAM. In Windows, memory equals speed.

Is anyone but a devoted Windows geek likely to notice MapCache's benefits? We didn't, but we'll let you know more once we complete our testing on the shipping version.

Related stories: Latest Headlines

Today on CNN

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

SEARCH CNN.com
Enter keyword(s)   go    help

   
 

Back to the top
© 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.