How can I make Quicken run faster and improve system performance?

Many factors affect system performance. As the demands on both software and hardware on a personal computer increase, users may be concerned about performance when using Quicken or other programs.

These factors can vary, but the following suggestions have been effective in improving performance:

Effectively using RAM can improve the performance of Quicken.
Make sure that you close all applications before starting Quicken.
Turn off all TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs when using Quicken.
Remove all programs from the Startup Group before installing Quicken.
Create a Permanent Swap File (Windows 3.1x users only).
Try turning off the QCards (on Help menu), especially if the system freezes or locks up.
Other hard disk considerations.

1. Effectively using RAM

   RAM is sometimes the most endangered species on a personal computer, and most systems could benefit from the addition of more RAM. However, purchasing more RAM is not always an immediate option, so a user who wants to increase the operating speed of a particular program should close other tasks. These tasks could include:

   Terminate and Stay Residents (TSRs), programs located in the Startup group, and/or programs recently opened by the user.

   Examples include background fax software, productivity tools such as Microsoft Office, and screensavers such as AfterDark.

2. TSR programs (Terminate and Stay Resident)

   These programs start when you first turn on your computer and stay in memory, ready for your use, even if they are not active on your screen. These programs can take system resources typically used by Quicken. These include screen savers, anti-virus protection, and any DOS or Windows programs that were opened but never shut off.

   See Viewing and Modifying files using SYSEDIT for information on viewing and modifying the AUTOEXEC.BAT and WIN.INI files in order to disable TSRŐs.

3. Removing programs from the Startup group
   System files may not be the only place with instructions for Windows to automatically start programs. When some programs are installed, they also place a program icon in the Startup group. Some applications place an icon in Startup without telling the user. Any program icon placed in the Startup group is automatically started each time Windows starts.

   To improve performance and avoid system conflicts, you may want to eliminate programs from the Startup group.

   Windows 95
   

   1. With your right mouse button, click on the Start button on the Taskbar.
   
   
   2. Choose Open.
   
   
   3. Double click Programs.
   
   
   4. Double click Startup.
   
   
   5. From the Edit menu, choose Select All.
   
   
   6. Drag all icons in the Startup window to your desktop.
   
   
   7. Restart Windows
      To Undo the changes, drag the icons on the desktop back into the Startup window and restart Windows.

   Windows 3.1x
   

   1. Open Program Manager.
   
   
   2. Double click the Startup icon.
   
   
   3. Drag virus-protection or memory-resident program icons to any other program group.
   
   
   4. Restart Windows.
      To Undo the changes, drag the icons back into the Startup group and restart Windows.

4. Setting up a permanent swap file in Windows 3.1x
   A Swap File can be set up for use by Windows 3.1x to speed operation of your programs. Setting it to permanent reduces the possibility of swap file conflicts or corruption.

   Increasing swap file size

   If your swap file is only one or two megabytes in size, try increasing it to 4096 KB. For help changing your swap file in Windows 3.1x, see Changing your Swap File.

5. Hard disk considerations
   During program installation and operation, your hard disk is used in a number of ways. Checking each of these considerations can help to avoid problems both for Quicken as well as your other programs.

   Hard Drive Space
   The program uses hard drive space to store its components, as well as any data files you may create. Make sure you have an adequate amount of hard drive space and allow approximately 20 MB for the program.

   Virtual Memory
   Windows uses hard drive space to emulate memory, swapping things from memory to the hard drive and back again, as necessary. This use of the hard drive for memory is in addition to the temporary files Windows uses.

   For Windows 3.1x, Virtual Memory (also called a swap file) is managed from the Control Panel. Windows 95 handles virtual memory management automatically and generally does not need user intervention. Creating a Permanent swap file of at least 4 MB can improve your computer's performance (under Windows 3.1x).

   Note: You can't create a permanent swap file on a compressed disk drive.

   Temporary Files
   After Quicken is installed, and space has been allocated for use by Windows as a Swap or Virtual Memory file, additional space is required by Windows for creating temporary files. A good rule of thumb is to maintain about 10% of your total hard drive available to Windows at all times. The more disk space available to Windows, the more efficient its operation.

   If you have installed an additional hard drive, make sure that Windows is using the drive with the most available space for temporary files. It is common that as drive C fills up and a drive D is installed, that Windows continues to use drive C for temporary files. This setting is generally controlled with an environment variable. Consult your computer or DOS user documentation for information about setting and modifying this variable.

   Hard Drive Integrity
   Because of the intense use of the hard drive, both for program access, virtual memory, and temporary file creation and management, preventive maintenance utilities such as Defrag and SCANDISK, are particularly important. These utilities, included with Windows 95, are also available in some versions of DOS, and can be used to insure the integrity of your hard drive and to optimize or defragment the files stored on your hard drive to allow for more efficient access. Be sure to carefully review your user documentation for utilities like this that make changes to your drive.

   In general, you would want to proceed in this order:

1. Remove unwanted files to make room.


2. Run SCANDISK to find and fix errors.


3. Run Defrag to optimize the newly available disk space.