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Windows Accelerators - Do They Really Work?

danila asks: "Today I came across an intriguing review of Windows tweakers on a Russian technology news site. Among the plethora of traditional registry tweakers, the review mentioned Hare 1.5.1. The developers promised nothing less than up to 300% speed increase, 10% FPS increase in 3D games, automatic RAM preservation and even a wizard that automatically cleans and optimizes Windows. It also had AntiCrash 3.6.1 a program to prevent up to 95.8% of Windows crashes. Understandably, I was both intrigued and suspicious since it sounded too good to be true." Has anyone tried this piece of software with any degree of success? How successful are other "windows accelerators" at improving Windows performance? "After a little research I found that download.com didn't have it and there are precious few reviews of this revolutionary software online, but that it was endorsed by McAfee and that developers touted conformance with Microsoft's interface guidelines as an important feature.

Still suspicious, I gathered all my courage and installed both programs (silently preparing for something like Bonsi Buddy or XXX Toolbar) on my Win2k Pro machine (P4 1.6/512Mb). Truth be told, after several minutes I was blown away. Obviously I can't tell how well every promised features works, but disk caching (and pre-fetching) that Hare does is outstanding and display performance improved enough to scare me - windows were opening, minimizing and redrawing without the delay I was accustomed to.

The question is -- is it real or was I fooled by some clever placebo tricks? And if it is real, why isn't the Web full of success stories involving Hare and AntiCrash? Why isn't everyone installing them on every Windows machine in the world? And a rhetorical question -- why doesn't Microsoft incorporate some of the features into its operating systems."

59 of 777 comments (clear)

  1. Gravity by Eberlin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nothing accelerates windows like a good ol' fashioned 9.8m/s^2

    1. Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Nothing accelerates windows like a good ol' fashioned 9.8m/s^2 ...but there must be a limit. what happens when you hit terminal velocity?

    2. Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      As we say in parachuting circles; The sky is not the limit, the ground is.

    3. Re:Gravity by m2bord · · Score: 2, Funny

      i beg to differ...

      it's been a while since i've had a physics course but isn't everything, including light, magnetic fields, and radio waves, affected by gravity in some way?

      but since it's a windows machine at rest perhaps it'd be best if it were acted upon by an outside force...say a hammer?

      --
      Is it 5:30 yet?
    4. Re:Gravity by DJStealth · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unfortunately, that will only accellerate the time it takes for the machine to crash.

    5. Re:Gravity by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I dunno, I hear Microsoft has an app that will make Windows run pretty damned fast. I believe they called it FDISK.

    6. Re:Gravity by bugnuts · · Score: 5, Funny

      Depends how high up you drop it from....

      Most Linux systems crash just as fast, and just as often as Windows in this manner.

      You heard it here on /. first, folks!

    7. Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      You gotta compile and instal OpenGravity. Then, go to OpenGravity config file and change the entry from 9.8 m/s^2 to 0 m/s^2. For a neat effect, change g to (-g).

    8. Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      sure that will stop it from crashing, but instead it will just hang. Not a very useful fix

    9. Re:Gravity by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Funny

      I opened up all the documents on my hard drive, changed the fonts from 12pt to 7pt, saved them, so now the machine falls slower. I estimate it's around 9.4 m/s^2 now. I'm going to try again with 5pt fonts if I can get a screen with enough DPI to display it.

      --
      You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    10. Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wind ressistnce is also a factor in a PC`s speed in free fall. a sony vaio fresh from office depot is a lot more areodynamic than a linux server with carved side pannels and a built in coffee machine.

    11. Re:Gravity by FireFury03 · · Score: 3, Funny

      OpenGravity is nolonger available as the courts have ruled it is infringing Microsoft's patent on gravity.

  2. Apple.com has a great accelerator by yanokwa · · Score: 5, Funny

    My Windows 2K install was pretty slow too, then I grabbed this one program. I think it was called Mac OS X. Ever since then, haven't had any viruses, crashes or slow performance. You should give it a try...

    1. Re:Apple.com has a great accelerator by p4ul13 · · Score: 4, Funny
      Details can be found here.

      --
      Paul Lenhart writes words!
    2. Re:Apple.com has a great accelerator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ever since then, haven't had any viruses, crashes or slow performance...

      ...or computer games!

      *ducks*

    3. Re:Apple.com has a great accelerator by arose · · Score: 4, Funny

      Who cares about Intel? All the cool penguins run AMD.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    4. Re:Apple.com has a great accelerator by Procrastin8er · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...I did, but none of my applications ran on it :-(

      --
      Slashdot - Where the slash is most definitely to the left.
    5. Re:Apple.com has a great accelerator by lostguy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Bah, PC versions of games are just a five-year beta test for the Mac versions.

  3. Yes, they work. by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 5, Funny

    They cost about $200 more than your current processor, and you can buy them from Intel or AMD.

    --

    There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  4. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    silently preparing for something like Bonsi Buddy or XXX Toolbar

    And disappointed when that didn't happen. I know. I know. I love Bonzi Buddy too

    1. Re:Hmmm by Pharmboy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't forget 386to486.exe while you're at it.

      I had to google for it, dropping the .exe part, but found that littel jewel here. In spite of what you said, it seems to work. I installed it on my P4 2.4ghz laptop, ran it, and now my laptop runs as fast as a 486dx/66, just as advertised.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  5. Don't use this ! by Wudbaer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I tried it, too, completely broke my new Dell !

    1. Re:Don't use this ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      When I used it, it broke the bank.

  6. details please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So is someone going to post about their actual experience with one of these products?

    1. Re:details please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      1) Repetitive jokes that aren't really that funny even
      2) ?????
      3) Profit!

    2. Re:details please by Unnngh! · · Score: 5, Funny
      Netcraft confirms: Slashdot is dying.

      In another crippling bombshell to the beleagered /. community, Netcraft showed abysmal uptimes from the /. servers over the last several weeks. Part of the downtime was attributed to lame jokes, which caused the sysadmins to not care whether the site was running or not.

  7. Tip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Never accelerate your Windows when you live in a glass house.

  8. Uh-huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah...by the same people who will enhance your manhood, give you immediate credit even if you're bankrupt and want you to click here to "unsubscribe" from future messages.

    Did you know that gullible is not in the dictionary?

  9. Kazaa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Programs like this never seem to work for me when I download them from Kazaa.

  10. Hmmm by ArchieBunker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not the brightest bulb in the box are we? Why don't you buy the software and write a review based on it. Don't forget 386to486.exe while you're at it.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  11. Mechanic-in-a-can by Gothmolly · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is like the people who, when you tell them that they need a new head gasket or valve seals, ask "Isn't there some stuff that I can put in my gas to fix it?" Of course the answer is yes, for $19.99, you can buy a bottle of stuff that will save you a $1000 repair bill.
    Or not.
    People are going to claim that "you can edit your 1337.ini file and set suck=no under the [R0XoR5] heading, and get a 11.1% FPS difference, d00d!"
    This is great for the tinfoil hat crowd, that MS, Intel and Madonna are part of a sinister cabal to put you on an upgrade treadmill. It's also great for the Uncle Joe 6Pack crowd, people who typically "know about computers" and have loud opinions on that great free HP printer they got when they signed up for MSN.
    There's no magic bullet.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  12. FORMAT.COM by UID500 · · Score: 1, Funny

    My favorite app for windows acceleration is a nifty little app named FORMAT.COM. It's been known to increase windows speed by up to 1000%...

  13. Re:I call BS... by narcc · · Score: 2, Funny

    And what are those revolutionary 11 bytes you may ask?

    "HELLO WORLD"

  14. 10% FPS increase in 3D games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    but will it make DOOM 3 faster?

  15. AntiCrash? by Psionicist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, it didn't work on their webserver...

  16. A long time ago... by sonicattack · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...back in the (somewhat older) days when I spent most of my time in front of my beloved Compam 386 computer, I stumbled upon a bit of software called "386to486", which promised to instantly convert my 386 chip to a 486 chip. This was my first PC, and I didn't know much about it, but I was still a bit skeptical and very curious about how such a program could work.. So I checked the README file, which enlightened me on the subject with something along the lines of:

    COMPUTER MAKERS DON'T TELL YOU EVERYTHING! THERE'S SECRET TRICKS THAT CAN BE USED TO CONVERT YOUR 386 into a 486!

    Now, conviced it was just a hoax, or something worse, I tried the program. (I didn't really care about my data - the harddrive was dropped into the ground - multiple times, and the poor few working sectors I had only contained data I had copied from floppies anyway), The program happily told me the magical transformation was complete. I fired up MSD.EXE to check - no change in identification. Still a 386. I ran a benchmark program, which didn't show any change from before. Just to try, I ran the magic software again - this time I got the text "Your computer is already a 486!". At least the programmers thought about that. Well, no bigger disappointment, since I didn't really expected anything useful to happen. I never found out if it was a virus either...

    Years later - a new little utility turned up on the BBSes I frequented - it was called 486toPentium, and the cheerful description of the file was "FROM THE GUYS WHO BROUGHT YOU 386to486"

    Amazing! :^)

    1. Re:A long time ago... by sonicattack · · Score: 5, Funny
      Hehe, I just found both little gems on the web - the README file for 386to486 was a _lot_ funnier now than when I first read it... I love the part about "top notch ..... ", and "...work loads take off your regular cpu..." Here it is....

      SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS TO RUN THIS PROGRAM:

      o A 386 DX CPU with at least 1 MEG of Extended memory.
      o HIMEM.SYS / QEMM or any other EMM manager.
      o DOS 3.x or higher and/or Windows 3.1 (optional)

      Welcome to a FIRST in PC TECHNOLOGY. Your computer is capable of doing much more than you think, and the companies that make them don't tell you everything. Well WE WILL. What if we told
      you that there is a program that converts your 386 DX into a
      real 486 DX/2 66 MHZ! You would say it's impossible, or it's another one of those HOAX PROGRAMS. Well you are wrong. In fact there are many programs out there that CLAIM to SPEED-UP your computer or increase your memory, but do they REALLY give results ? They either eat memory, behave strangely, and the result is not significant.

      Well throw away all those programs, because 386TO486.COM is the right choice. Yes, this little program, under 22 K, will convert your 386 DX into a 486 DX/2 66 MHZ, SAFELY.

      This program only works with 386 DX's, it does not support SX or 286
      computers.

      Now you might seem skeptic and think this is a joke. This program took 6 months to program, and was carefully studied by top notch programmers and debuggers. They have come up with a SAFE technique to do so.

      We will not go into technical details, but we will attempt to explain. What this program does, is, it adds a mini TSR program into a protected memory area and this RESIDENT program acts as a CPU,
      it analyses the program being run and takes over the work, does
      its own calculations, compresses the program in memory, changes
      certain commands, all in realtime! All this frees up your
      regular CPU. So your regular CPU does its chores and the
      EMULATED CPU does its work too. It's like having a math co-processor,
      but in this case it's a CPU co-processor.

      And it's not all!!! This TSR does more than free the load out of
      your CPU, it also features a graphic processor and sound processor.
      2 independant built-in modules that take care of graphic manipulations
      in all modes including CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA, XVGA, and modes up to 24 bit
      color. It's like having a seperate GRAPHIC CPU, so imagine all the
      work load taken off your regular CPU. It also features a built-in
      sound processor, that takes care of sound processing, for programs
      that use sound cards and PC SPEAKER as well.

      The program also features a MATH CO PROCESSOR emulator, even better
      than Q387.EXE, it is as fast as the real math chip itself, this also
      is installed.

      So with all these utilities in memory (TSR) it works to help free your
      CPU, it also changes your BIOS, setup and memory contents to configure
      it into a 486 66 so other programs can recognise it.

      When we say it converts it into a 486 66, we really mean it!!!
      Your 386 DX 40 becomes 486 66 MHZ, tests have been made
      and we measured the CPU speed with different programs.
      Without this utility installed we got from 37.5 to 40 MHZ!
      With the utility installed we got an amazing 67.2 MHZ to 74 MHZ!
      Faster than the real 486 66 MHZ!!!

      Everything is automatic and temporary, once you turn off your
      computer everything is reset. When you run the program it will
      read your configuration and adjust itself accordingly. This
      utility takes away NO MEMORY, it resides in a special unused portion
      of your memory, and it is fully compatible with ANY DOS version,
      any WINDOWS version, any other TSR's in memory, other memory
      managers, and 100% of all the programs out there.

      So we hope you understand the principle around this, it uses
      very complex programming code to acheive this. And it's more
      than just an emulation, your system becomes a real 66 MHZ SYSTEM!
      An

    2. Re:A long time ago... by Unregistered · · Score: 4, Funny

      Now i just need ATHLONtoG5.exe so i can run OSX.

    3. Re:A long time ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      WOW!!!!!

      when do u think they will release 32bit_to_64bit.exe???

      i can't wait !!!!!

  17. Re:I call BS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Where do you store the \0?

  18. Re:I call BS... by DarkDust · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the hare website:
    Hare will improve performance no matter what software you use, thanks to a revolutionary compact 88-bit Kernel, which accelerates common system instructions

    WTF? This is complete BS.

    No, it's not ! I have disassembled that 88-bit kernel, and here is the source:

    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
    nop
  19. Re:Hah! by red+floyd · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, they built it on a piano!

    --
    The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  20. Re:300% speed increase -- caution flag by Rick.C · · Score: 4, Funny
    The developers promised nothing less than up to 300% speed increase

    And I'll promise "up to $1M" to anyone who replies to this comment. Seriously.

    Bear in mind that the term "up to" includes the number "zero", so to promise "nothing less than up to 300%" is to promise "nothing less than zero".

    As for my "up to $1M" offer, guess which end of the scale I choose for payoffs. The zero end.

    --
    You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
    "Math in a song is good."-Linford
  21. Re:There is a simple reason by southpolesammy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Our chief weapon is multiple hardware support...support and faster desktop execution...execution and support. Our two weapons are multiple hardware support and faster desktop execution...and ruthless efficiency. Our *three* weapons are multiple hardware support, faster desktop execution, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to Bill Gates. Our *four*...no....amongst our weaponry...are such elements as multiple hardware support, faster desktop execution...I'll come in again...

    --
    Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
  22. Yes it is! by TexasDex · · Score: 2, Funny
    Hey, "Gullible" is too in the dictionary!! I checked myself!

    Wait a sec...

    --
    The Cheese Stands Alone.
  23. Oops... by CommanderData · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a mistake there. You accidentally disassembled the CPU-Cooling program. The 88-bit kernel gets it's 300% speed boost by only executing every third instruction!. Of course, you may notice some odd glitches in your favorite software, but boy is it fast! ;)

    --
    Urge to post... fading... fading... RISING!... fading... fading... gone.
  24. It works GREAT! by bugnuts · · Score: 3, Funny

    It sped up my system so fast that my Blue screens of death turned into a RED Screens of Death!

  25. Re:Magic Beans??? by Alsee · · Score: 3, Funny

    a faster way to have your data deleted

    Yeah, but it's 300% faster11!!!

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  26. By syllogism by atomm1024 · · Score: 2, Funny

    1. On Slashdot, nobody values the opinion of Windows users.
    2. The only people who can answer this accurately are Windows users.
    ...3. PROFIT! ... No, wait, wrong silly Slashdot reference.
    3. Therefore, the only people who can answer this accurately will not have their opinions seriously considered.

    --
    Signature.
  27. Re:88-bit kernel by Sebastopol · · Score: 2, Funny

    The emulate the integer execution corein the FP unit, translating everything to 88-bit floating point notation!

    --
    https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
  28. Re:It's possible, I suppose. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, my god.

    I /hated/ my IIsi. I was developing assembly with it, and found the video memory unbeleivably slow, as it was shared with main memory.

    I hated apple for their crippled design (I loved my Mac Plus so much), and ended up buying a NeXTstation and became a NeXT developer. Funny thing.

    I never thought there was a solution. I never guessed that, one day, some AC would give it to me in a random /. post.

    Thank you. You made my day.

  29. Re:looks like smoke and mirrors by Alsee · · Score: 5, Funny

    shareware junkies - 5 of 5, english worse then mine

    worse than mine

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  30. Re:I call BS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's coming in version 2.0.

  31. Re:why doesn't microsoft do this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Alternative question: Why make Windows crash faster?

  32. Re:Magic Beans??? by magefile · · Score: 2, Funny

    Reminds me of back when file compression was the big thing ... one program would delete your file, then use UNDELETE trickery to get it back. Worked fine, until you overwrote those sectors or defragged.

  33. 88 bits by atrader42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That seems a bit suspicious. 88-bit!?

    It just uses your piano along with your processor. As long as you can stand the noise of your piano running at several Ghz, it's quite the improvement.

  34. Ever? This has been said before somewhere by PReDiToR · · Score: 1, Funny

    Of course this is all pointless since noe one is EVER going to pass more than an _int64 instruction in any code in any program ever

    Nobody will ever need more than 640K of RAM either ...

    --

    Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
  35. Re:There is a simple reason by Bitseeker · · Score: 3, Funny
    This is why in business most 'power users' have dual processors.

    Interesting concept.

    Bob: "You've got two CPUs in your computer? What on Earth for?"

    Neo: "One's for getting work done."

    Bob: "What about the other one?"

    Neo: "Oh, that's for Windows."

  36. Re:7-Max by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Please note that the 'sig' printed above is basically an 'rm -rf /' in perl-obsfucacted code, and that the comment is by an AC, so it really isn't a sig...

    And yes, i discovered that it is that, not by perl-knowledge on my part, but because i, well, ran it.....

    So mod him down please, but if you feel like testing it, for God's sake, do it on an unprivileged account...