THENECROMANCER'S PROFILE

I do this for a living. Besides reducing startup and background apps, the only thing I've ever seen boost speed of a computer is turning off all visual options. It's in control panel > system > on XP...it's another tab > I'm drawing a blank but you will see a screen with 3 buttons. Performance button maybe? You want to turn off stuff like shadows, show all contents while dragging. There's a long list with check boxes. At the top just click best performance. And boom, most times you will see a noticeable improvement.

You can also try changing the size of your virutal RAM. Do trial and error, but don't set it crazy high. It uses the HDD as RAM, but the HDD is slower so you don't want to much in there. Some can ease the pressure on your RAM. I think it comes into effect right away, so change it to 1GB, then test, then 2GB, and so on. I wouldn't go over 4.

Some laptops will have a access panel on the bottom to install more RAM, along with like a panel to replace the HDD. You can look for that but I wouldn't even bother upgrading it. You can buy referb Win7 PC's from Staples for around 150$, no monitor. In Canada anyways, not sure where you are. If you were going to spend money on RAM, that's better.

Try creating a new user profile, that sometimes helps a bit.

Try safe mode. Not sure if you will be able to use all programs in safe mode, but it's worth a shot. You won't have sound though. Safe mode with networking.

You can MSconfig, and go to services, hide all MS services, and see what you can disable. You won't turn off anything critical that way. It's part of the "clean boot" process.

Remove antivirus if you have one. Yeah, it's not safe but you're on XP, it's not safe by default and you'll at least be able to use it.

I don't know much about broswers/memory. We only work with the big 3(fuck you Edge).

If it was Vista or higher you'd have access to ReadyBoost, but that is hit or miss anyways.

If you don't know what a process or file is, google it. You will find out. It's pretty much safe to attempt to end any process. Critical ones can't be closed, some important ones will just reopen themselves, and you can just reboot if anything happens. I've never had any major issues ending a process.

Shouldiremoveit.com is great for looking at your installed programs. Clear any bad ones.

Do malware/virus scans. Run TDSSkiller, malwarebytes, roguekiller, hitmanpro(trial will allow a few days of scanning), JRT, ADWcleaner (I always do them in this order but it doesn't matter much). All in safe mode if possible. All free programs. Oh yeah, CCleaner, for cleaning out temp files.

Check your schedule tasks. On XP I think it's different, and maybe non-existant? Worth looking into. Sometimes you will find programs have scheduled update checks that are running in the background like every hour, or in some cases every 10 minutes.

UMMMMMMMMM, what else? Lower screen resolution can sometimes help. No background image or fancy Windows themes maybe, why not? Try and avoid multiple tabs or windows in the browser.

That's all I can think of right now. Hope it helps.

I'm out.

Man, I can't seem to get into the SMBX spirit. I opened the editor, mucked around, and I couldn't think of a damn thing to do. When it comes to making a crazy gimmick level I can't put the mouse down, but a "normal" Mario level may be outside of my ability. I'll try again later(or maybe think of some crazy gimmick within the rules). I want the ms though...

I don't see a problem with a level only auto scrolling part way through. Calling it jarring is a bit much and probably varies depending on the persons expectations and opinions.

Hali - If I made a level that couldn't be run through but you had to do actions in a specific sequence, would that be ok? It's just a vague idea but think of like, a point and click adventure game. Where you do something here, which opens up this, get this item and use it here, etc.

author=Jude

author=Corfaisus
As the OP of this thread, I'd like it if you preemptively dropped any personal hostilities before entering. And if I'm not authority enough, here's this from the post immediately before yours:

Go back to jerking off to belly inflated Sonic the Hedgehog porn.

Such a classy fella. Way to raise the bar.

Or hire a new judge and if they can finish before the other judge responds, go with their notes.