make sure that no other programs are running in the background.

    if you have a multi-processor machine, make sure that your operating system is using both cpus. you can bring up the task manager and look at the performance tab in windows nt and windows 2000 to see the cpu usage. dual-cpu systems should have two cpu graphs.

    if you are running windows nt server or windows 2000 server, be aware that the server performance is tuned so both foreground and background applications run with equal priority.

    for best performance, we highly suggest running the non-server versions - windows nt workstation or windows 2000 professional.

    if you must use the server versions, you can get better performance by changing the application tuning. utilities can be obtained from sites like sysinternals at http://www.sysinternals.com/

    keep in mind that this may adversely affect server processes.

    also keep in mind that overall performance depends on more factors than cpu speed alone - motherboard chipset, front-side bus speed, video card, drive controller overhead, disk subsystem speed, and other devices in the system can affect performance as well.