Windows XP - trick I found to make games run better

[smullin]

When HL2 comes out (and just prior to release) everyone will be upgrading computer equipment like crazy. I always close unnecessary process in the task manager, and today I realized that you can close explorer! This might not be new to some, but this was a HUGE help to me. You can close explorer.exe and open the game .exe manually. This made an enormous difference playing UT2K4. Most of the problems I had with background things running were from explorer.exe anyway. Just thought I'd share. =)

 

[SubKamran]

I thought Windows XP loaded explorer.exe when it was ended so you wouldn't have to restart if it crashed.

 

[smullin]

I've found that if you close it manually it won't execute it again on its own. My computer has some weird .dll errors though... It's time to reinstall.

 

[Daiceman9]

I dont think it does, but you can run it again by doing ctrl-alt-del->file->New Task->explorer.exe

Edit: just tried it, works fine to close and reopen.

 

[sabre89]

Cool!

Thanks to daiceman too, now whenever i accidently end explorer instead of having to restart i know i can reopen it.

 

[aFireInside0016]

so wait, you can close it in the processes tab and then play, and then reopen it after youre done? how much of a performance increase does it give? thanx

 

[smullin]

so wait, you can close it in the processes tab and then play, and then reopen it after youre done? how much of a performance increase does it give? thanx

yep, that'd be the correct procedure (sorry I didn't clarify that well earlier) anywho, I haven't quantified the difference at all, but normally I drop frames and get a lot of slow-down in firefights and stuff, even on pretty low settings (I have a laptop - geforce 4200 go, 2.6ghz, 512ram) but with explorer closed, I haven't had any problems whatsoever, and I've even bumped the settings up a bit. I think a lot of the issues I was having were do to things explorer was doing. I dunno what kind of effect this has on network settings though, so it might be good only for single player.

 

[smullin]

i've been messing around with this some more, and it seems that anything you open up after you close explorer runs good 'n gravy! no networking probs for me - yet. :-P i think this might be a good way to get 20-30mb of ram back, as well as whatever random cpu stuff windows thinks it should be doing instead of running my games

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Wow if you need to shut off programs in the task manager.....you need to upgrade your computer....I don't even do that.

 

[smullin]

yeah, it's not usually a problem I guess, but I like to minimize outside processes. waiting for all the next-gen stuff to upgrade. I'm surprised though how much a difference closing explorer makes on my computer. I think maybe a windows reinstallation is in order, b/c I don't remember having these issues before. never know! cutting out the fat is good for anybody though - just a thought :-P esp. for those looking to get higher benchmarks or whatever. every frame counts

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

The only slow down I get in games is when IRC disconnects, usually all 3 networks at once, then they try to reconnect at once >_> talk about lag. Other than that its fine.

 

[Zer01ne]

One word to you: PC Booster. Well that was two words. Or Tweak-Xp. Or Customizer XP-I only shut down The McAfee Virusscan sometimes, but even UT2004 and Far Cry runs fine at high settings on a Celeron1300@1468 Mhz, 512 mb SDRAM and a GeForce4Ti4200.

 

[jasonh1234]

I can't believe so many people haven't heard of this before.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

I can't believe so many people haven't heard of this before.

Oh I've heard of it, but its useless when you can run games fine with things running in the background, amd ownz. :naughty:

 

[Varsity]

I have to agree with Disturbed there--I've often got three people logged on, plus Trill, IRC, SETI, and a crapload of background processes running, and I never get either slow-downs or bad ping. I'm at about the same system specs as you too - 2.26 GHz P4, 512 RAM, and a GF4.

You have SETI running and you can still play UT on that system? :O SETI eats processor cycles for breaksfast lunch and dinner!

 

[Element Alpha]

SETI eats processor cycles only when the screensaver is on.

 

[Kyorisu]

Run a Benchmark on 3dmark 2001 and let us know the results with and without explorer.exe people want facts here.

Meanwhile I can run Farcry on medium with a high fps on my 1.3 duron, 256mb SD, radeon 9600 pro config no problems.