Workgroup Add-On for MS-DOS Continuously Accesses Hard Disk
PSS ID Number: 120134
Article Last Modified on 11/20/1999
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Workgroup Add-On for MS-DOS 3.11
This article was previously published under Q120134
SYMPTOMS
When you share a network printer (NET SHARE PRINTER=LPTx) from a Workgroup
Add-On for MS-DOS machine and you change to a large directory (more than 50
files), your hard disk continuously spins. This continuous access slows
down other commands (such as DIR), making your computer work slower.
CAUSE
Workgroup Add-On for MS-DOS uses conventional memory to spool print jobs in
order to be backwards compatible. This spooler requires buffers or a drive
cache to do to operate optimally.
RESOLUTION
To stop the spooler from continuously accessing the hard disk in large
directories, do the following:
- Open the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in a text editor (such as Windows Notepad)
and set SMARTDRV.EXE as the first statement.
-or-
- Open the CONFIG.SYS file in a text editor (such as Windows Notepad) and
set BUFFERS to a value greater than 30.
Additional query words: 3.11 slow wgao
Keywords: KB120134
Technology: kbAudDeveloper kbWFW311DOS kbWFWSearch