There are a number of ways you can increase the amount of conventional memory available to you. Conventional memory is that first 640 KB of memory which all programs hog for. Since it is in such demand, keeping it optimized and available is important.

Many of these actions involve making changes to the CONFIG.SYS file. Remember, you want to keep a backup of the last CONFIG.SYS that your system last worked correctly with. So, be sure to copy the file to CONFIG.BAK before modification.

Be sure to thin out your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files under Windows 95. Many times these files call up programs that are simply not needed or not there. These lines can be removed. Better yet, just add REM to the beginning of the line you want to take out. This makes it a "remark" and the computer w! ill not execute that line.

Here are some things to try if you're not running Windows 95 and not MS-DOS:

• Use the HIMEM.SYS file. At the top of CONFIG.SYS, add two lines: DEVICE=C:WINDOWSHIMEM.SYS and DOS=HIGH,UMB. This will call up HIMEM.SYS, a program that loads DOS into high memory, or that first 64 KB of memory, that all DOS programs fight over.
• Use EMM386.SYS. This program enables DOS to load drivers and other automatically loaded programs into the upper memory while conserving conventional memory. To use it, add the following to CONFIG.SYS right after the HIMEM.SYS line: DEVICE=C:WINDOWSEMM386.EXE. There are a couple parameters you should add to this line. To disable expanded memory, which hardly anybody needs, add N! OEMS to disable the EMS buffer. To disable the Monochrome Video Area, add I=B000-B7FF. This disables the monochrome area that is used by the really old DOS programs that were monochrome. Today, with everything in color, this is just a waste of 32 KB of conventional memory.
• With HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.SYS working, it gives you the ability to move drivers and programs that would usually reside in conventional memory up to the upper memory. To do this, you simply add HIGH to the lines loading up the drivers. For example, in the CONFIG.SYS file, a driver will be loaded by DEVICE=. To load this driver into upper memory, you call it up by DEVICEHIGH=. In AUTOEXEC.BAT, you can place a program in upper memory by adding LOADHIGH to the line that runs the program. Most drivers can be moved to upper memory, including CD-ROM, mouse, etc.