OS/2 e-Zine! - Performance Plus Version 4

Performance Plus Version 4 - by Barry Brindisi

Introduction

Performance Plus Version 4 by Clear & Simple is a definite must have software package! The book alone is certainly worth the US$35 for this product. It is filled with a lot of good information on how to get the most out of your system performance-wise. I am using a 486DX2-66 system with 16MB of RAM and OS/2 Warp 4.0 for this review. According to the documentation, however, Performance Plus V4 is also compatible with OS/2 Warp 3.

Performance Plus consists of one book and one floppy disk. Installing the program is quite simple; while the software is installing, the user is prompted with an on-screen registration form and asked for some basic information about his/her computer. Upon completing the form, there are a few options for sending it in. (I've already sent mine, via e-mail.)

The Clear & Simple Manual

The manual that comes with Performance Plus represents a large portion of the value of this product; it goes into great detail about how to correctly set up your CONFIG.SYS file so that OS/2 Warp will run more effectively. It also goes into detail about the types of system components to look into when attempting to improve your system's performance. Finally, it offers some good basic housekeeping suggestions for your PC.

This manual is an excellent resource, not just for OS/2 users, but for anyone who wants to tune or upgrade a PC. The information in its pages could also prove interesting to those with a desire to know how their computer and OS/2 really work, in plain language. Much more than just a description of how to use the software provided with Performance Plus, the book is one of the most valuable system tuning tools available for OS/2 -- and it's completely updated to cover issues related to Warp 4.

The Software

In addition to the extensive manual, Performance Plus comes with a disk that contains a variety of software utilities for tuning OS/2 Warp PCs. The three main tools for this are Simple Count, Optimizer and Stats. Simple Count is a small utility that will perform a series of tests on a system and display results via a bar graph (GIF, 11.2k). There are various ways to modify how Simple Count does these tests.

The second utility is Optimize (GIF, 16.7k). This program makes modifying your CONFIG.SYS file, a breeze. It provides a snapshot of the various components of the CONFIG.SYS and lets users modify this file to suit their particular needs. (I -- and the author -- suggest reading the book before doing so, though. The author explains in 'clear and simple' detail about the CONFIG.SYS file and how to do the modifications correctly.)

The Stats utility gives a comparison report (GIF, 14.1k) of the last two Simple Count sessions. The idea is to give the user an overall idea of what kind of improvements have been made (or not made) to the system.

Other Goodies

There are also several other utilities (GIF, 15.4k) included in Performance Plus V4, such as Video Perf, Disk Jockey Lite, Disk Tuner, DOS Black Box and etc.

With Video Perf, you can get a good indication of the quality of your video driver. This utility performs a series of tests on the responsiveness of installed video drivers and gives the result. You are then encouraged to visit Clear & Simple's web site and compare your results with that of other video drivers. It would have been nice to have something to compare the results with without having to go on-line, especially for users without 'net access.

Unless you enjoy fiddling with the various DOS settings for a stubborn DOS program, you will find the DOS Black Box Utility, quite handy. This utility automates the process of setting DOS program objects to run in a DOS session and gives helpful instructions on what most of the DOS settings mean.

Disk Jockey Lite is an excellent graphical file manager that is based on Clear & Simple's new Disk Jockey. While I'm used to using command lines, this utility is great for me and makes handling my files a snap. I'd recommend the full version for those of you that are uncomfortable with command lines though.

Other utilities include a swap file monitor, a disk performance timer, a simple zip backup function, a one-floppy boot disk maker, a bitmap viewer and an automated Desktop backup program. These utilities are all simple to execute from the provided WPS objects and work quickly and efficiently. While some utilities are text mode only and others are Presentation Manager based, they complement each other well and are genuinely useful.

Conclusion

As I stated earlier, Performance Plus V4 is a definite must have for users of OS/2 Warp. It will complement any other utilities package that you may have. At US$35, the information in the manual and the useful utilities are a great bargain for OS/2 users looking to squeeze a little more out of their computers.

Performance Plus v4
by Clear and Simple, Inc.
MSRP: US$39.95

Barry Brindisi has been dealing with computers since 1982 and has used a wide variety of computers and software. He is just starting on a freelance writing career.

[Our Sponsor: EmTec Innovative Software - OS/2 ISDN, modem and telnet software.]

This page is maintained by Falcon Networking. We welcome your suggestions.