It's not the settings. It actually slows down (drastically) the computer startup procedure. In SH3 the drivers aren't any better and so far they don't seem any worse. I have yet to try the other games I'm running.

Well that's a pain Beery! :-? reminds me of my brother who is allways changing/updating with the latest drivers etc & sure as shootin the phone rings & needs help or has to format his drive, keep telling him "if it aint broke don't fix it" but never sinks in. :dead:
I go one step farther in protecting my system, I ghost to a second hard drive once a fortnight or so and if something does go wrong I can install a previous version in about half hour! :up:
Hi Syxx_Killer, I notice that your favorite commander is the same as mine, Wohlfarth was certainly quite a character & can relate to him, when I installed SH3 Commander I was upset to find him not there so I will have to scan an image in with a little data! :yep:
I maintain that Catalyst drivers 5.6 & older were much better with ccc than newer version because new versions use the .net extensions, & boy does the old fps go :down:
Cheers.

That´s probably drive fragmentation (depending on what "drastically" means). Try "Bootvis", it´s a great tool (made by Microsoft), it speeds up the startup procedure by optimizing the position of all drivers and programs that are needed for startup. Or do a simple defrag, that could also help.

Get "Bootvis" here:
http://www.wintotal.de/softw/module/download.php?id=767

Well, initial anger is replaced by mild annoyance. The drivers don't seem to adversely affect my games - they don't improve them either. The computer startup issue is some kind of adjustment the drivers made regarding how the startup procedure looks - the developers obviously thought that I wanted the startup to have a nice slow fade effect rather than a quick 'let's get to the desktop' effect.

This whole experience raised my blood pressure to dangerous levels and now I'm stuck with a computer that starts up about 5 seconds slower (it used to flash the 'welcome' screen for about 5 seconds, whereas now it fades it in and fades it out - takes twice as long for a screen I don't want to see anyway). Like I said before, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. In future I'm always ALWAYS going to take that advice.

If you like you can deactivate the "Welcome" screen via Control Panel/Users.

No thanks. I've tried messing with the User Accounts thing before. I ended up with a computer that wouldn't recognize me as the administrator and I spent hours online with tech support. I went in there just now and it only gives two options - switch off the welcome screen and log in with a user name (that's what got me into trouble before) or use the current welcome screen. I'll go with the devil I know.

Yeah, "switch off the welcome screen". This gives you the normal login box (username/password) instead of the "fancy" welcome screen.

I don't want to login every time I use the computer. I disabled that. I don't want it back again.

You also have to go to a dropdown list when you log off, which is more annoying than having to do the 'Stand by / Turn off / Restart' thing. I mean when I tell the computer to switch off, why does it force me to confirm the decision? I've never understood why I have to do that. Why can't it just have ''Stand by / Turn off / Restart' in the program list and just switch the darned thing off when I tell it to?

It's like some games:

'Exit' - click on it, you get:

'Exit the game and return to windows?' - click on it, you get:

'Are you sure?' - click on 'yes' and you get:

'Exiting the game'

Darn it! I wanted to exit and return to windows on the first click. Why should I have to confirm twice, and why do I need a message to tell me that I've done it? Just switch the bloody game off! I'm not a moron, I can be pretty sure that when I click 'exit' I actually want to exit.

That´s no problem.

Create a few shortcuts and use

shutdown -r -t 00
reboots the PC

shutdown -s -t 00
shuts it down

shutdown -l -t 00
a normal logoff

And it doesn´t ask any stupid questions... :)

There is no command line option for Standby.

Beery and others,

I've found this website extremely useful for optimizing my ATI drivers...

http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html

Cheers!

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!

You´re welcome!

Yeah, he certainly had an interesting career. Ironic and sad. Don't know if you saw this site but it is worth reading:

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarc...ecialbond.html

old answer
 

sorry for delayed note.

Ofcourse if the system is perfectly stable dont do anything. Personally i havent had a ultimate perfectly stable system since windows entered the market in the 80's..