Computer Tips & Tricks

Swiftshader

Swiftshader is a 3D rendering software with DirectX® 9.0 class features. The other main features includes supports advanced graphics such as Shader Model 2.0, predication, floating point rendering, stenciling etc.In comparison with Microsoft's Direct3D®, Swiftshader performs 50 to 100 times faster. With Swiftshader, the game graphics get improved by a large amount. SwiftShader provides the same APIs that developers are already using for their games and applications and this helps in directly integrating SwiftShader into applications without any changes to the source code.

Downlink:[demo]http://www.transgaming.com/business/swiftshader/technology/

The features of the 900 GMA (915 motherboard) and 950 GMA (945 motherboard) graphics chipsets
* 3D Acceralation: Yes
* Video Memory: 192 MB For 900 GMA And 256 MB For 950 GMA
* Pixel Shader: 2.0
* Vertex Shader: 3.0 (It features a Software Vertex Shader)
* Hardware Rasterising: Yes
* Hardware Transform & Lighting: No ( Usually provided by the CPU or 3D Analyze could be used)

So all in all the requiered features are satisfied for the games Of 2006-2008 era, except one where 915 or 945 fails. These games require hardware Vertex Shaders and the 915 Or 945 Chipsets only features Software Vertex Shaders.

List of games support by Intel GMA 900, GMA 950, 915 or 945 GL/GV/GM Based Chipsets and workaround solutions in order to get the games working using Intel GMA 900, GMA 950, 915 or 945 GL/GV/GM hardware.

Most of the solutions requires 3D Analyze, which is a powerful application that allows to play many DirectX based games using video hardware officially unsupported and theoretically unable to run these.

1. Get yourself SW
2. Extract out the contents into a temporary folder
3. Copy d3d8.dll, d3d9.dll and swiftshader.ini from the temporary folder into the folder where the game's executables are located (usually in the installation directory, but if your installation directory is empty, check the subfolders inside; they usually are in the subfolder 'bin')
4. Open up swiftshader.ini with notepad or wordpad, and edit the options as needed. Here is a rundown of what options are there:

[Capabilities]
PixelShaderVersion=21 << - defines maximum pixel shader version, e.g. 21 = 2.1, 20 = 2.0, 10 = 1.0
VertexShaderVersion=21 << - defines maximum vertex shader version, e.g. 21 = 2.1, 20 = 2.0, 10 = 1.0
TextureMemory=512 << - defines texture memory, if games run too slow, try changing to 1024 (only if you have 1GB of RAM)



[Caches]
VertexRoutineCacheSize=1024 << - don't touch these
PixelRoutineCacheSize=1024 << - don't touch these
SetupRoutineCacheSize=1024 << - don't touch these
VertexCacheSize=64 << - if games run too slow, change it to 128, any higher will make the game even slower



[Quality]
TextureSampleQuality=1 << - don't touch it, lowering sample quality will not improve performance
MipmapQuality=0 << - it defaults at 0, so don't touch it
PerspectiveQuality=2 << - don't touch
TranscendentalPrecision=2 << - don't touch



[Processor]
ThreadCount=0 << - change to 2 if you have dual core, 4 for quad core, or leave it at 0 for single core CPUs
EnableSSE2=1 << - 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled, leave it enabled
EnableSSE3=1 << - 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled, leave it enabled
EnableSSSE3=1 << - 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled, leave it enabled

5. Run the game! If it's an old game, it should run smooth. Newer games usually run at choppy rates, usually unplayable. Have fun!

To disable unneeded startup services for a safer, faster XP, use the "Services" Admin Tool (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services). If you are a single user of a non-networked machine, you can disable the following items, with no ill effect.


Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service (Slows the hard drive down)
Messenger
Net Logon (unnecessary unless networked on a Domain)
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless "Universal P'n'P", & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet (disabled for extra security)
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)
Workstation

Speed Up Browsing:

When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although Windows XP and Windows XP have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentContro

lSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Merge it into the registry.

How To Increase YOur Download Speed:

need Internet Download Manager (IDM) to do so....

First I Wanna Tell You That my usual download was 70kb/s on the microsoft download manager that comes with windows (the default download manager) anyway after installing internet download manager and making the settings it increased up to 250 / 300 kb per second

1.first open idm then option

2. choose ur internet connection type like DLS 256KB,CABLE NETWORK

THEN

3. set max. connection to max number it has..

4. click ok & start download...!

Boot Winxp Fast:

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer...!!

Increase Your Broadband Network Connection's Speed:

These settings allow you to boost the speed of your broadband Internet connection when using a Cable Modem or DSL Router with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create the following DWORD values, as most of these values will not already exist you will need to create them by clicking on 'Edit -> New -> DWORD Value' and then set the value as shown below.

DefaultTTL = "80" hex (or 128 decimal)
Specifies the default time to live (TTL) for TCP/IP packets. The default is 32.

EnablePMTUBHDetect = "0"
Specifies whether the stack will attempt to detect Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) routers that do not send back ICMP fragmentation-needed messages. The default is 0.

EnablePMTUDiscovery = "1"
Specifies whether the TCP/IP stack will attempt to perform path MTU discovery as specified in RFC 1191. The default is 1.

GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the system maximum receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack.

TcpMaxDupAcks = "2"
Determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before "fast retransmit" is triggered.

SackOpts = "1"
Enables support for selective acknowledgements as documented by Request for Comment (RFC) 2018. Default is 0.

Tcp1323Opts = "1"
Controls RFC 1323 time stamps and window scaling options. Possible values are: "0" = disable RFC 1323 options, "1" = window scale enabled only, "2" = time stamps enabled only and "3" = both options enabled.

TcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack. If you have a latent network you can try increasing the value to 93440, 186880, or 372300.

Exit your registry and restart Windows for the changes to take effect..!

SPEED UP UR ACROBAT READER (ALMOST LIKE NOTEPAD):

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader
(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\.. whatever)
2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory. (I repeat.. cut and paste the files NOT copy & paste).
Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and not allow you to move the files).
Now your acrobat reader will load very fast and almost as good as notepad..

Note: I am assuming that you've installed Acrobat Reader in C Drive..!!

Shutdown XP Faster:

1) Start - Run - Regedit
Navigate to the following Registry key:
HKEY CURRENT USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Double click on the AutoEndTasks entry and replace the 0 with a 1 in the Value data text box

For the next two, if the dword value indicated does not exist, create it:

Double click on the WaitToKillAppTimeout entry in the right pane and change the Value data to 2000

Double click on the HungAppTimeout entry in the right pane and change the Value data to 1000

Reboot

If still having a problem, make the next change:

2) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl

Set\Control
Right-click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and change it to 2000

NOTE: The lowest value Windows will recognize is 1000 (1 second)

ADVISORY: While rare, the "WaitToKillService" tweak can cause problems. If an application is in the process of saving data and the associated service is stopped prematurely, the data will not be saved and may be lost. (Tweak, Note and Advisory from Forum Admin)...!!