Datasheet

6
Chapter 1 Arranging the AutoCAD User Interface
3. In the Performance Options dialog box, click
the Advanced tab. Click the Change button
in the Virtual Memory area.
4. Click the Custom Size radio button, and set
Initial Size at twice the size of your RAM. For
example, if you have 1 GB of RAM, set Initial
Size at 2048 (RAM is in powers of 2) MB.
5. Set Maximum Size at three times your RAM,
and then click Set. Click OK in each of the
open dialog boxes, and you’re done.
6. After a restart, you should see an improvement
in your AutoCAD performance.
Clean Out Temporary Crud
When I (Scott) went to college umpteen years ago, I remember discovering what were labeled
“temporary buildings” on the campus map (they looked surprisingly identical to Army
barracks); I learned that these buildings had been there for some 50 years. They were ram-
shackle, rusting Quonset hut–type structures that didn’t fit into the architectural context.
I had the aesthetic pleasure of seeing these surprisingly long-lived structures end their
“temporary” status when they were demolished to make room for a library renovation.
The moral of the story is that things (and files) labeled “temporary” often hang around
long after they stop being useful and start becoming a nuisance. Windows needs help in
deciding just how temporary your temporary files are meant to be. You can avoid all manner
of strange crashes, hung systems, frozen mice, and other maladies that mystify technical sup-
port personnel by periodically cleaning out your temp files:
1. Close all your programs.
2. Open Windows Explorer. A nice shortcut to do this, by the way, is Windows key+E — if
your keyboard has a Windows key. Otherwise, right-click the Start menu, and choose
Explore (which is also a nice tip!).
3. Highlight the text in the address bar, type %TEMP% , and press Enter. This is an environ-
ment variable (surrounded by percent symbols) that resolves to the Windows Temp
folder, which in my case is
C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp
This is much easier than trying to scout around for your temp directory yourself; trust
me. My user name is Admin, so that’s why you see it in this path. Using
%TEMP% is the
easy way for sure.
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