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ComputerTalk Magazine 2
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ART8
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1992-07-27
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╔═════════════════════╗
║ WinSPEED ║
║ Windows Accelerator ║
╚═════════════════════╝
by Tony Curro
MS Windows 3.0 was S-L-O-W. With the release of Windows 3.1, the
speed was improved; but still drags on certain programs, especially graphic
intensive ones.
There are ways to improve this. Throw out your video card, and buy
a VGA accelerator card for $400 or more. Seem like too much money to spend
to speed up Windows, doesn't it? I think so. I would not use Windows,
before I would spend that kind of money to speed it up. There is a cheaper
and very painless way to improve Windows; and you get to keep you video
card!
Panacea, Inc., has been in the software accelerator market since
1988. Their latest program, WinSpeed, is such a product. WinSpeed, has a
list price of $79.00, and can be purchased for $45-55, by mail order.
Panacea also has a 'WinWin' guarantee. WinSpeed will work with over 85% of
the SuperVGA cards on the market. If by some chance your card is
incompatible with WinSpeed, Panacea will give you your money back. Who
could ask for a better deal?
WinSpeed is fully compatible with SuperVGA cards with at least 512K
of video memory. It supports all three modes (640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x
768), in 256 colors. Additionally, your video chip set, must be based on
one of the following: ATI, PARADISE, TRIDENT 8800, TRIDENT 8900, TSENG
ET-4000, and VIDEO SEVEN. The TSENG chip set covers most of the boards and
manufacturers, not covered by the other four.
Installation is easy. From a DOS prompt, you change to the drive
where you have your disk, it comes on both 5.25 and 3.5, and type INSTALL.
The first program that is run is an "Auto Detection" utility, that checks
your video card. I installed it on two systems with different video cards.
It returned the correct information, that both cards had 1 MB of video
memory, and were using the TSENG ET-4000 chip set. It also produces a list
of many of the boards that have this chip set. If this is the proper
selection, you just press RETURN. WinSpeed will now search your hard drive
to find Windows. It will come up with the directory information that it
finds. If this is correct, again you press RETURN. The program will now
uncompress the files onto your hard drive. When it is done, you will see
that everything was done successfully.
You must now start Windows. However, before you do this, you will
need the first two disks of your MS Windows program. These are used to
install the fonts and other information, from the Windows disks to your
hard drive.
Once you start Windows, you run Windows Setup, select Options, and
select Change System Settings. Look for the three WinSpeed drivers. Select
whichever resolution you want, and double-click. You are now prompted to
insert the proper disks. When it is all done, you MUST restart Windows, for
the changes to take effect. If you have enough disk space, you may wish to
install all three modes at this time. It does save time, if you want to
switch modes later on, as all the necessary will already be there.
I ran PC Magazine Labs Benchmark on Windows, using all three
WinSpeed modes, and the standard VGA mode of Windows 3.1. WinSpeed's three
drivers outperformed the standard VGA. The fastest of the three was using
the 640 x 480 mode. The 800 x 600 was slightly slower than this, but still
respectable, and the 1024 x 768 mode was the slowest of the three.
Some people may still want to buy those screaming fast accelerator
boards. I would say, buy a 486-50Mhz system, if you want to 'FLY!' As a
software-only accelerator, and a very reasonable price, WinSpeed can hold
its head up. It is an alternative many of us can afford.
╓───────────────────────────────────────────╖
║ Product Information ║
╟───────────────────────────────────────────╢
║ WinSpeed ║
║ Suggested Retail Price $79.00 ║
╟───────────────────────────────────────────╢
║ Panacea Inc. ║
║ Post Office Square, Suite Four ║
║ 24 Orchard View Drive ║
║ Londonberry, New Hampshire 03053-3376 ║
║ Sales: (800) 729-7420 or (603) 437-5022 ║
║ Fax: (603) 434-2461 ║
╙───────────────────────────────────────────╜
Copyright (c) 1992 by Tony Curro. All Rights Reserved.