Copyright: Outer Technologies


Welcome
Welcome to Cacheman

Welcome and thank you for downloading Cacheman.

Cacheman is a utility which tweaks the disk

cache settings and prevents frequent swapping

of the data to disk resulting in an improved

performance and stability.

What's the problem with the Windows Disk Cache ?

VCACHE is drive cache Windows allocates that can often

gobble up 25-40% of your installed memory.  By default

Windows places NO LIMIT on how large it can be.

Wonderful....

After accessing large files, like video clips, VCACHE expands

to an often huge size and then is very stingy about giving

that memory back to the system.

This is NOT the Windows swapfile and is NOT controllable

from System/Performance/Filesystem/Troubleshooting.

On machines with <128 megs VCACHE can (and often does)

cause low memory crashes when using memory intensive

software like Photoshop, Media Studio Pro, Premiere etc. etc.

This is especially the case when you've been accessing

large files or previewing your project.

On machines with <64 megs it can make life intolerable.

It can also cause playback problems in low memory situations.


Disclaimer Agreement

Users of Cacheman must accept this disclaimer

of warranty:

" Cacheman is supplied as is. The author disclaims

all warranties, expressed or implied, including,

without limitation, the warranties of merchantability

and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes

no liability for damages, direct or consequential,

which may result from the use of Cacheman."

Cacheman is Copyright (c) 1997-98 by Thomas Reimann.


What's new in Cacheman 3.x
What's new in Cacheman ?

3.80

•	disk cache setting can be saved to/loaded from a config file

•	improved cache values

3.70

•	Cacheman shows information instead of error message when running on Windows NT

•	Minimal Disk Cache setting of the Standard Optimization have been modified

•	'Automatic for beginners' optimization method has been added

•	small GUI changes

3.60

•	A multimedia setting has been added

•	GUI works for the 640x480 resolution as well

3.50

•	File and Directory Cache can be modified

3.0

•	Two gauges have been added to show available

   memory

•	Optimization methods extended for Windows 98

•	User, GDI and System memory displays have

   been added

•	Chunksize can now be user defined.

•	Minimum and Maximum cache sizes can be

   individually enabled/disabled

2.50

•	2 new optimization methods have been added

•	Notes added to the reboot information dialog

•	Improved Help file

2.0

•	Free memory display

•	different optimization methods

•	Remove capability has been implemented

•	Program status changed to Giftware


Customer Support

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have

any Cacheman-related questions or problems

that are not answered in this guide or in the online

help. We would also be pleased to hear from you if

you have ideas, experiences, suggestions or

special requests and even complaints regarding

Cacheman.

You may contact us in any of the following ways:

EMAIL:	support@outertech.com

(please do not send me electronics postcards - they are really boring !)

WWW:	http://www.outertech.com

Please send postal postcards to:

Outer Technologies

Thomas Reimann

Muehlgasse 10

96450 Coburg

Germany

When reporting a difficulty, please include any

information that might help us diagnose the

problem. The following details are often the

most helpful:

•	Your version of Windows 95/98 (Build)

•	The circumstances and the steps that led to

   the problem

•	The text of any error messages that appeared

•	A list of other Windows software that you are

   currently running such as virus checking software


User Interface Explained


How to use Cacheman 3.x ?

Step 1.

If Cacheman is not running now then launch

Cacheman 3.x by clicking here.

Step 2.

Click on the Settings menu and select the

optimisation method for your operating system.

Step 3.

To make the settings permanent use the Save

command, located in the File menu.

Step 4.

Exit the program and reboot your system to

activate the new disk cache adjustments.

Note: You can change the 2 slide bars or the

edit fields to manually set the disk cache size.

Use the Save command to write out the settings.


How do I disable Cacheman?

Step 1.

Click on the Settings menu and select the

Disable Cacheman Optimization.

Step 2.

Click on the File menu and click Save or

Save on Exit.

Step 3.

Reboot your system to start working with the

new configuration.


User Comments about Cacheman
Some User Comments about Cacheman

Just wanted to thank you for Cacheman. I thought you might be interested in

the following.

PaintShopPro has a disk based undo system with quite a few configuration

settings. The one I like to use saves each individual paint operation so I

can undo one step at a time. The only problem with this WAS that it was

slow, I mean sloooooow, so slow that the system would pause for 2 or 3

seconds until it caught up. It would also leave fragements of the mouse

pointer on screen until the window was refreshed. In short, I spent quite a

bit of time looking at a messy screen and the hourglass pointer. Since

setting the vcache with Cacheman v3.51 (4096, 4096, 512, 4096, 96) the

problem has COMPLETELY vanished. I get only an occasional flash of the

hourglass pointer now, no pointer fragments and no delays.  This is a truly

amazing performance boost, almost like a processor upgrade. Also, the

overall performance of my system in general is much smoother and more

responsive.

Mike Christian

---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Thomas Reimann,

You've just been nominated to received the "Best  Guy Award"  for 1998. By

chance, I purchased a computer magazine that had system optimization

software include--namely one of yours. Thanks a whole bunch. Your program

which I perhaps have save me hundreds of dollars from having to go to

technicians and buying CD's that were lost during a session gone bad. One

ting for sure, I no longer received those undesirable "low buffer runs" from

my CD program. The first time I installed Cachemann 3.51, my HP8100 CD

Writer worked flawless. In addition, when installing software to my system,

my CD ROM would just creep as if it was an old guy. I found that pretty

strange and all, because I have a 24X CD ROM and from the most part, on

average, it runs fast enough to get a  ticket for speeding. Out of the 3

biggest problems I had, your program fix 2. Again, your program is wonder.

By the way, if you are that good, perhaps you may shed some light on my

third problem. It probably would be safe to say that you have heard of the

diagnostic program "Checkit." I do not know how good or reliable it is, but

I have it. One problem that I am wondering about is when I run a test on

memory and always at 16MG the system resets itself. I've tried the same

thing on different siystem to validate whether or not the results are

actually what I thought it was. The reason for running this check it because

the system or a program locks up  and Windows report a fault error occurred

in such and such register and so forth. I have swap memory modules and even

purchased a new 32 SDRAM  memory chip. I just can not get rid of this

problem. No viruses. No unusual events except for this pain in the ass. Do

you have a program or know of a program that would find or correct this

fault. Please if you have time share some light on the subject.

Again, I would like to say thank you for making this program--its wonderful.

Feel free to use part of this message in any type of advertising to let

customer know that its not just some other program looking for attention.

And by the way, I will share the good news with other friends and well. If

you would like for me to add any comments that you have to my Webster that

I'm about to make, feel free to send the comment and as soon as it is

posted, I send you the web site address. Thanks Tomas.

Alvin Benjamin, United States Army

---------------------------------------------------------------

Read a CD newsgroup that your CacheMan product was a big help in solving

under-run errors in burning... They were right.

On my PIII/Win98 system with 256MB, loading your program and setting it for

32MB min and Max did the trick.

Shelle's Internet Design & Consulting

Michelle "Shelle" Feigen

---------------------------------------------------------------

I have just installed cacheman on my system.

For months I have been trying to solve the problem of my 128mb ram being

eaten up by a huge cache file. I have read magazine after magazine and

installed diagnostics tools of all shapes and sizes to no avail.

I have probably wasted more than 50 hours trying to get to

the root of this problem.

I am really impressed that you have explained what the system does

in terms of adjusting the system.ini file. If Microsoft had the same

sense of trying to help people understand how their system works

instead of blinding us with jargon life would be so much easier.

With Cacheman however it's even easier and theres no guesswork involved.

Well Done !

Thank you for solving my biggest computer headache for years.

David Anthony Elmes

---------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Thomas

A few hours ago I installed cacheman on my Windows '95 with update W'98

and..oh surprise...it is the best little tool in that matter, that I've

crossed in almost 2 years I'm using my pc...before I sure have

tried plenty of other tools, ..more or less efficient..but yours is far out.

A friend of mine told me about it and sent me  the

CD rom from a german pc magazine EXTRA Freeware # 4:

My set has never been as fast as after the installation of cacheman

and there was no problem with the installation....congratulations!

Ray Irrthum

---------------------------------------------------------------

I wish I had found this superb little util 2 years ago.

The cd-writer settings have boosted the performance of my P200mmx,

32mb ram system to a very noticable degree.  I had a lot of problems

with buffer underrun while burning cd-r`s, chacheman seems to have

solved the problem instantly.

Well done.  A postcard is on it`s way from Lanark, Scotland.

All the very best...

F.J.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cacheman has totally revitalised my PC!

Thanks a million!

Colin "Oscar" Smedley.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Just installed it this weekend. Brilliant, I have a PII266 with 128mb

and  it was running like a dog with 3 legs in Win98. Free memory was

never above about 10mb, but now I have setup Cacheman for a power user I

constantly have 50-70mb free - result everything runs much faster and

applications zip open.

Thanks very much - keep up the good work

Steve Heads

---------------------------------------------------------------

Recently I installed Cacheman v3.60.  I'm pleased that the access to my

hard drive has diminished markedly.  Every so often my hard drive used to

be accessed as if by an anti-virus scan, but that wasn't it.  That's

stopped since I installed Cacheman so I believe it must have been swapfile

activity I was observing.  Nice to have that annoyance eliminated,

especially since my CPU is a desktop sitting right in front of me.

Regards,

Richard Vopelak

---------------------------------------------------------------

I've tried alot of programs that say they will speed up performance but most

of them are just hype. I recently reformated and my system was running very unstable.

I restarted at least 20 times in 3 days. Windows kept using up all my memory and

I only had a few programs open. White boxes would come up and say you are

running dangerously low on resources and it would give me a choice of programs

to close. I would try to close one and windows would lock up. This also happened

when I tried to close out some programs that weren't responding usind control

alt delete and windows would lock up again. Now that I have Cacheman installed

again everything is running great. I had Cacheman installed when I first got my

computer and totally forgot about it after a few days. Thank you for a stable

system once again!

Kyle K.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Thomas,

Downloaded a few days ago,

it's been a great pleasure to install your CacheMan on my computer - before

installing

my RAM was just disappearing  and nothing was left after a few working

programs was loaded. It really works fine on my computer with any default

settings.

Thank you so very much !

Yours sincerely

Thorben Nørgaard

---------------------------------------------------------------

I just downloaded your Cacheman freeware off the internet after seeing it

on the Autopsy Report (via http://www.slaughterhouse.com).

This is one great piece of software!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  My

free physical memory went from 80KB to 6100KB using the low memory setting!

 I'm going to experiment with the other settings.

Thanks again.

Matt Medena

---------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Thomas,

I think we have corresponded before, about some of your other software

titles. I will not bore you with praise, you must have plenty!! You write

software that is simple and useful, AND does not fill the hard drive with

crap you never use a la Microsoft etc.

Please keep me up to date with the stuff you are doing.

Thanx.

Regards, John May

Oxford

U.K.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for the GREAT program you have written.

No matter how much time you spent writing it, it

can't be as much as the time I have spent trying

to stop Win95 from swapping all the time.  And I

have 160 MB of RAM!!! VCACHE would regularly

use 150 MB (155 MB once) for cache, while making

the OS and programs do to swap.

Now, with the settings I choose in Cacheman, I

no longer use the swap file (except while editing

large .jpgs).

I never did understand the logic of VCACHE

thinking that caching the swap file was faster than

just releasing that memory to begin with.  Now

VCACHE doesn't have a choice in the matter.  ;)

Jason Woods

---------------------------------------------------------------

I just want to say how thankful I am for Cacheman! I

installed and tried it today and suddenly 9 months of

problems with my computer are over. I've had trouble

with the memory and I just couldn't figure out what

to do to fix it.But a few days ago your Cacheman was

in Softseek's newsletter and I thought I's give it a

try. And it worked. Thank God! No, thank YOU!

From a happy Cacheman user,

Frode Kløw.

---------------------------------------------------------------

This is just a really quick message to thank you for

creating the wonderful 'cacheman'.I installed it a

few days ago and am amazed at the results. I have

claimed back about 4 - 10MB of memory, and as I use

graphics appz such as photoshop an awful lot, this

has dramatically speeded things up and just made

life a lot easier.

There you go. Huge pat on the back. Well done!

Cary Charles

---------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, thanks for Cacheman. It improved the

speed of my system drastically. I'm usually running

Delphi, Word, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer etc

at the same time and Cacheman improved response

times tremendously. A postcard from Enschede, the

Netherlands is on the way.

Arjen Broeze

---------------------------------------------------------------

I want to thank you and to congratulate for what

appears to be a most excellent program. I have

just installed it, ran it and saved the Power User

settings.

The programs I am now running seem to be running

faster. Also, when I run FreeMem to check available

RAM, there is more available RAM than is usual, even

after opening and closing programs.

Julio Juncal

---------------------------------------------------------------

I am a video producer, using Fast Electronics digital

video products. There has always been considerable

problem in switching between the editing software

and the capture/output software in that system,

seemingly because Windows 95/98 cannot manage

the swap file mess it leaves behind.

Among video editors, the controversy has gone on

for some time about how to fix the problem, dealing

with various placements and size of swap files,even

turning it off. (then back on for various operations;

a real pain!) When going between the two main

applications, Premiere and DVManager, the system

must be rebooted just to clean out the cache. Failing

to do so will almost always result in a system

shutdown. When you're busy trying to put maximum

creative energy into a video production, I cannot

possibly tell you how much of a problem the constant

rebooting is!

My first use of Cacheman would indicate that it helps,

even perhaps solves that problem.  If that is true,

that would make whomever wrote this little jewel

nothing short of a hero to all of us who edit video

on PC's.

Dave Boyers

Plain City, Ohio

---------------------------------------------------------------

I just wanted to tell you that Cacheman 3.5 has

made an incredible difference in my systems

performance.  I had almost given up using the

Internet except in the early morning because it

took SO..... long to do anything.

This computer is an older Intel 100 with only 16 MB

of memory.  I really thought it was beyond hope!

Although my new computer arrives next week, I

do not think I'll junk this one as planned.  Cacheman

really made that much difference.

Thank you

Pamela Dick

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for a great program.  At last, a tool that made

it easy to get a handle on the elusive MS cache

monster.  I've been through a variety of apps to

"enhance" performance but none have been as effective

and as common sense as Cacheman.  And it doesn't

eat resources!!

Bravo!!!

Jeff Frankhouser

Great Falls, Montana, USA

---------------------------------------------------------------

I found your Windows 98 add-on among the best

of 1998 tips in the "Andover Update" news letter.

It is a very neat tool for setting the cache size.

My Pentium 233+MMX system has 256 Mb RAM

and your settings for a user with a CD writer

work well. I have logged a performance

improvement of around 25%.

John Butler

-------------------------------------------------------------

I just tried Cacheman 3.0 and I must say that it

made a world of difference on my 233mhz 24mb

computer! Now my computer has some pep in its

step! I can't beleive just a little 400kb download

can do so much good! You program was easy to

use too! I especially liked the simple way to set

the disk cache ( I.E. Poweruser,Quake2 ) simple

settings that a novice can even understand! My

hard drive is a lot quieter now.

THANK YOU

David Crocker

---------------------------------------------------------------

I had the problem with runaway disk cache usage

in w95. I have 256 MB and I'd have 200 eaten up

caching junk I would never need again. Then I would

swap constantly. I work with huge multi-image

collages (100 - 150 MB). I now have much more free

ram.

Brian P. Barnes

---------------------------------------------------------------

Just downloaded and installed Cacheman from

ZDNet.  Great program ! Marked improvement in

access speed of my apps.  Just a note to say danke.

William Vickers,

Saint Louis,

Missouri.

USA

---------------------------------------------------------------

Fantastic little program! It has made a big difference

to my PC.

              \\\|///

            \\  - -  //

             (  @ @  )

-----------oOOo-(_)-oOOo-------------

[ Stephen Hill ]

[ Software Development Engineer ]

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cacheman is a simple but very food tool

Keep up the good work

David Nilsson

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your programs. As I was one of

the fools that actually paid for Memturbo

believing that it did something "more" than

Cacheman. I ran both programs after a cold

boot and discovered that Cacheman was actually

more effective than the hyped Memturbo.

As I'm under an extremely tight budget, I now

regret paying the fee that Memturbo required.

I also intend on installing your new ver 3.0 in

about a minute - right after I uninstall MemTurbo.

I appreciate the quality of your programs and

depend upon generous developers like you for

many utilities. I use all of your freeware and look

forward to what you have coming up next.

Your postcard will be arriving soon.

Thank you again...Merry Christmas from Everett, MA. USA

Sincerly,

Paul Pappathan

---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Reimann,

This is a small note to say a BIG THANK YOU for

Cacheman v.3.7 which I downloaded last night from

the freeware segment of CNet. As reviewed therein,

your program boosted my system's performance

noticeably. I am a management consultant and

consequently I frequently run Excel, PowerPoint and

MS Project simultaneously. Also, the internet is my

primary (and preferred, if you like) communication link

with the outside world. So, as you can well imagine,

my rather archaic system (I generally use a Toshiba

laptop with measly 48Megs of RAM) is constantly

overtaxed. After installing and running Cacheman

under the power user setting, I find that my system

performance is affording me the opportunity to postpone

my projected investment in a second laptop. All thanks

to you!!! can be sure of one thing, when I do get my new

system, Cacheman is going to be one of the first utilities

that I will be installing.

Again, thanks!!!!!

Sincerely,

Mana Guha

---------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks ago,following Fred langa recomendation,

I downloaded Cacheman for my Dell Dimension, PIII,

384MB SDRAM, 22.6 GB HD, running Win98 SE.Previous

to Cacheman my System Resources had been 67%

inmediately after Restart and 63% after Internet

browsing.Crashes and freezes are things of the past

because every 4 weeks I spend 40 minutes with my

$19. CD reinstalling Win98 SE, so as to clean files

and tweak the system (better than Disk Cleanup).

The Cacheman settings are Automatic for Beginners,

and the readings are 81% , 77% and the Disk Cache

are min. 1024, max. 8192. The improvements in

Resources have been great and my PC stays always

fast

Efrain Morales

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cacheman improved things considerably on by 32MB

RAM, P 200, with a small hard drive.  The low memory

setting did it.

Thanks,

Reuben Snipper

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas,

CacheMan immediately proved what a hideous

burden Vcache imposes on most Windows machines.

Initially, with standard Windows settings ("let

Microsoft decide") my 128mb RAM brought no

great performance gains over the 64mb installed

previously.

After installing CacheMan, and with windows now

snapping into place, I tinkered beyond the basic

CacheMan settings and got 99mb RAM free. I

did not expect this much of an improvement!

This will change as my program mix moves over

into heavy webgraphics, but the benefit is

enormous.

Appreciatively,

Brian Graham

Columbia, SC

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks a million for the fine cacheman program. I

have had a lot of problems with my computer locking

up, while working on webpages and jpg images,

since I downloaded your program, I have not had

that problem again. this is a great program.

Thanks again

Kernel Corn

Clanton, Alabama

---------------------------------------------------------------

From Bjorns 3d-World News , 20 March 1998

http://www.bjorn3d.com/3dnews.html :

Cacheman

Thanks to RacerX for this tip.

" This nice utility called 'Cacheman' configures

the Win95 vcache for optimal settings which stops

wasted memory usage and causes much less

Swap file usage. On my 64meg system I save an

average of 8-16 megs of memory after installing

this utility !! A lot of the "pauses" in Quake2 and

other games literally go away !!

Best of all, it's freeware. By the way, this is NOT

a compression utility, so there's no speed penalty

or anything to worry about. "

•	Note: Cacheman status has changed to Giftware

After a review Cacheman has been awarded

      The Showcase Star - Best Of Class

http://www.ultranet.com/~ss4/cacheman.htm


About the Author

Cacheman was designed and written by

Thomas Reimann.Here's what he has to

say about himself.

"I'm a programmer and I live in Coburg/Germany.

Coburg lies in Bavaria - about 300 km to the north

from Munich. I'm 23 years old and have been using

computers for about 14 years."

To see photos from Coburg just click on the following

link:

http://www.fh-coburg.de/coburg/bb/bb_uk.html


Credits & Acknowledgements

Program:	Thomas Reimann

Documentation:	Abhijeet Premkumar


Our Other Products

Some of our other products include

Batchrun 2.0 is a cool utility you absolutely MUST

have if you want to ease those mundane tasks

you need to do from time to time.It allows you

to run several programs one after another like

in a Batch script.It also boasts of several features

like allowing your programs to run minimized/

maximized or with a delay and internal commands

like copy, move are also supported.

Status: Giftware

StartEd 3.70 is a tool which helps you to manage

those pesky programs which load from the Registry

at Windows startup. So if you need total and direct

control over the programs loaded during the booting

processes, then StartEd is THE Answer. StartEd

allows you to take a peek at what's currently going

on during the boot operations, and places the power

to Edit, Delete and Add to the existing entries at your

fingertips.

Status: Shareware

Linkman Pro 5.0 is a link manager to manage

Netscape Navigator bookmarks,Opera Hotlist

and Internet Explorer favorites and allows you

to generate a HTML linkpage for off-line browsing

and the HTML linkpage is fully customizable from

the color of the page and right down to the style

of the page.You can also convert between

Bookmarks and favorites.You can exchange links

in the native LMD format with your friends.Several

other features make it the ideal link management

tool for users ranging from the novice to the

power-user.

scheduled release date: January 1999

Status: Shareware

GetDiz 2.0 is a viewer for those small DIZ files

seen in Archives.Why not try GetDiz instead of

those slow loading memory hogs to view these

tiny DIZ files.

Status: Giftware

Hexer 1.0 is a conversion tool which can convert

from Decimal to Hexadecimal and vice-versa.This

tool is useful for those who create Web-pages and

need to convert the color attributes.It is also a

useful addition for people who work with Hex editors

which don't have the conversion facility built in.

Status: Giftware

GetInfo 1.3 is a viewer for reading the NFO files

 seen sometimes on the Web.

Status: Giftware

The author's definition of Giftware:

"If you like the program and continue using it then

please do the decent thing and send me a gift.

This could be anything from a postcard to the

registered version of a Shareware program written

by you."


File

Click on any part of the image below for a brief

explanation of what it does.


Settings

Click on any part of the image below for a brief

explanation of what it does.


Help

Displays this help file.


Free Physical Memory

Displays the free physical memory on your

system as Free Memory (RAM) / Total

physical Memory.


Used Virtual Memory

Displays the Used Virtual memory on your

system as Used Virtual Memory /Size of the

Swap File.


Minimal Disk Cache

Sets the minimal disk cache size of your system.

You can change the values of the cache size by

dragging the slider bar or by using the spin buttons

in the adjacent edit box.Alternatively, type in the

desired values in the edit boxes.


Maximal Disk Cache

Sets the maximal disk cache size of your system.

You can change the values of the cache size by

dragging the slider bar or by using the spin

buttons in the adjacent edit box.Alternatively,

type in the desired values in the edit boxes.


Chunk Size

Sets the chunk size of the disk cache.Click here

to know more about how the chunk size affects

the optimization process.


Edit Box

You can manually set the virtual cache size

settings by typing in the values in these

Edit-boxes


Enabled Check Box

Enables or disables the disk cache optimization.

You can selectively enable or disable Minimal,

Maximal or Chunk size.


Save

Writes the new settings to the SYSTEM.INI file.


Save & Exit

Writes the new settings to the SYSTEM.INI file

and closes Cacheman.


Exit

Terminates Cacheman.If Cache Optimization

parameters have altered then Cacheman asks

you if you want to save the changes before

it exits.


Windows 95

This sub-menu displays the preset optimization

methods available for Windows 95.Click here to

learn more about the Optimization methods available


Windows 98

This sub-menu displays the preset optimization

methods available for Windows 98.Click here to

learn more about the Optimization methods available.


Disable Cache Optimization

With this command the disk cache size will be

handled by Windows, the limits imposed by

Cacheman will be removed.


Help


Standard System

This optimization method is suitable for most

users.The disk cache will be bigger than with

the other 2 methods and the minimum and

maximum settings will differ.


CD Writer

This optimization method is right for systems

with a CD Writer. The minimum and maximum

settings do not differ, so that Windows does

not waste CPU time to constantly calculate the

disk cache size.


Power User

This optimization method is devised for the

power user who runs several big applications

at the same time.


Low Memory System

This optimisation method is to be used on

those systems where no free memory is left

after booting to the Windows 9x GUI.


3D Games

This setting may help stop pauses in Quake 2

or 3D games on some 16 and 32mb systems

according to some user reports.


Optimization Methods

Click on any part of the image below for a brief

explanation of what it does.


Frequently Asked Questions

What's the problem with the Windows Disk Cache ?

VCACHE is drive cache Windows allocates that can often

gobble up 25-40% of your installed memory.  By default

Windows places NO LIMIT on how large it can be.

Wonderful....

After accessing large files, like video clips, VCACHE expands

to an often huge size and then is very stingy about giving

that memory back to the system.

This is NOT the Windows swapfile and is NOT controllable

from System/Performance/Filesystem/Troubleshooting.

On machines with <128 megs VCACHE can (and often does)

cause low memory crashes when using memory intensive

software like Photoshop, Media Studio Pro, Premiere etc. etc.

This is especially the case when you've been accessing

large files or previewing your project.

On machines with <64 megs it can make life intolerable.

It can also cause playback problems in low memory situations.

What about Cacheman and Windows 98 ?

Microsoft has changed the VCACHE strategy in Windows 98.

Applications are launched directly in the disk cache instead

of loading them into another memory area and launching there

(as Windows 95 does). This is a good improvement, but there

is still no limit on how large VCACHE can be - so the

'too big disk cache' problem still remains. Cacheman has special

Windows 98 support (it sets the disk cache larger compared

to the Windows 95 settings).

I have a PII xxx with xxx of RAM - what is the best setting

for my system ?

Cacheman optimization methods are different on different

systems - it optimizes 'system-dependent' - this means

the cache values are different on a 32 MB system compared

to a 128 MB system and so on.

Does Cacheman change the Virtual Memory settings?

No, it optimizes the Disk Cache settings.

Does Cacheman have to be resident in memory to work?

No.

Does Cacheman add drivers to optimize my Disk Cache?

No.

How does the Chunk Size affect the performance of my system?

The disk cache is a single block of memory which is divided into

chunks.The performance changes with the chunk size. When the

chunk size is too small, the executable must occupy too many

chunks and vice versa.This affects the performace of your system

slightly. An optimum size must be arrived at so that the chunk

size is neither too large, nor too small.

Does Cacheman work with Windows 98?

Yes. Though the program was originally designed for Windows 95,

Windows 98 allocates (and ties up RAM) in much the same way as

95. Since Windows 98 has the same type of System.ini file as Win95,

Cacheman proves just as effective for '98 users. From version 2.0 to

3.5, Cacheman even offers specialized settings for Win95 and 98.

What does it do?

Cacheman is a graphical interface which simplifies the task of making a

simple change to the [vcache] numbers in your System.ini file. The only

change that's made is to the "minfilecache" and "maxfilecache" numbers.

A major advantage Cacheman offers over manually changing these numbers,

is that it has three user settings with "default" numbers which have proven

most effective for each type of user, but Cacheman does give you slidebars

to further modify those numbers, and alters the numbers as a pair, instead

of blindly guessing at each of the two numbers individually.

Is there a way to undo the changes when switching to "Power User" mode?

Easy. If you ever want to undo the changes, simply run Cacheman again

and select "Remove Cache Optimization" from the "Optimum Disk Cache Size"

menu. After your next boot, your system is restored to its original System.ini

settings.

Will making a change to the System.ini file interfere with my current computing session?

A: Not at all. When you have told Cacheman what you want the new setting

to be, and "Save" the setting, Cacheman writes that to the INI file, but the

setting will not be activated until Windows is restarted (that's when Windows

initiates all INI settings).

Do I need to close all programs before running Cacheman?

Nope. Cacheman does not really interact with any other programs, and uses

very little in the way of resources.

Is Cacheman compatible with AOLSpeed?

The Cacheman program is not a utility for AOL, nor is it dependent upon any

other program. Cacheman is just a simple, safe way to make one minor change

to your System.ini file -- a change which can make your computing sessions

smoother and less problematic, by instructing Windows recycle RAM instead

of holding program components "open" tying up physical memory.

How much effect does Cacheman have on "System Resources"?

Directly, none at all. Indirectly, plenty! When Windows can rely on RAM

(physical memory) instead of constantly building a pool of Virtual Memory

(disk memory), your system will run more smoothly, and when opening/closing

large programs, will allow you to re-use the same RAM over and over, instead

of locking it up and forcing the sytem to utilize virtual memory. Logically, the

more RAM your computer has, the more noticable the improvement is, because

Cacheman's purpose is to make better use of RAM.


Free Resources

Display the System, GDI and User Resources.

Note:-

Windows becomes extremely unstable if any of

these resources falls below 10%.If this were to

happen then there would be a distinct possibility

of Windows freezing or crashing.


System

It is the part of the operating system that loads

first, and it remains in main memory. Because it

stays in memory, it is important for the kernel to

be as small as possible while still providing all

the essential services required by other parts

of the operating system and applications. Typically

, the kernel is responsible for memory management,

process and task management, and disk management.


GDI

Graphical Device Interface is a Windows standard

for representing graphical objects and transmitting

them to output devices, such as monitors and

printers.


User

The User Heap deals with the management of

resources like Menus, Dialog boxes, Buttons etc.


Hyperlink
Ultimatum Hyperlink

Opens the Web-page of Outer Technologies

in the default browser installed on your system


Chunk Size effects
The disk cache is a single block of memory

which is divided into chunks.The performance

changes with the chunk size.

When the chunk size is too small, the

executable must occupy too many chunks

and vice versa.This affects the performace

of your system slightly. An optimum size

must be arrived at so that the chunk size

is not too large and not too small.


Enable / Disable File Cache Optimization
Enables or disables the File Cache optimization.


Name Cache

Windows tracks the names of the files accessed.

The value in the edit-box sets a limit on the number

of files Windows tracks.


Directory Cache

This setting tells Windows to retain information

about the last few directories visited and the number

of files inside those directories.The value in the

edit-box sets a limit on the number of directories

Windows tracks.


Name Cache Edit Box
Lets you type in the size of the Name Cache.


Directory Cache Edit box
Lets you type in the size of the Directory Cache.


Multimedia

Use this setting if you frequently run multimedia

applications which require large amounts of

memory.


Load from Config File

Loads the parameters for Cacheman from an INI

file which you specify.


Save to Config File

Saves the current Cacheman configuration to

an INI file in the location of your choice.


Automatic for Beginners

Choose this option to let Cacheman decide the

settings for you. Cacheman will calculate and

try to come up with an initial setting scheme.


Contents

Displays the Help File Contents


FAQ

Displays the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

page from the Cacheman Help file.


User Comments about Cacheman

Displays the User comments page in the help file.


Loading/Saving to a File

Why do I need to use the Load / Save to File feature?

If you want to try out several custom configurations

then you could change the settings you want and

save that configuration to an INI file. You could create

several such profiles and use the Load from Config File

feature to import them in Cacheman.

This feature is particularly helpful if you want to re-install

Windows 9x and want the VCache settings to be applied

after the re-installation. After installing Windows 9x you

could run Cacheman and run the File | Load from config

File command and import the settings from the INI file you

want.

You could also use this feature to replicate these settings

on another computer in your school/office etc.