>One more important thing about the cache. If your computer crashes or
>freezes while you are surfing, then Netscape does not have the chance to
>clean up its act before closing down. It will not pick up on the added
>items when you restart Netscape. This can lead to HUGE cache folders
>taking up megabytes of space. One friend of mine had over 900 items in
>that folder! If you crash, clear the cache before surfing again.
>Otherwise, you will slow to a crawl on the Web.
The absolute best thing I ever did to improve the performance of Netscape
was to put the cache into a RAM Disk. It has been my default setup for the
past 4 months or so. I'll never go back to a hard disk cache.
After you adjust the prefs to use the Ram Disk as the default cache
location, be sure the cache prefs are also set to set to check documents
every time. Otherwise almost all benefits of the RAM Disk are lost. By
checking every time you end up with ultra-fast reloads and almost no
chatter from the hard drive. The cache is always emptied at shut down
(because it's on a RAM Disk that cannot hold contents during shutdown), but
if saving it is necessary a program called AppDisk may be worth looking
into.
The only drawback may be that the unattractive ram disk icon ruins the
aesthetics of a well tuned desktop. This too can be fixed with the "RAM
Disk Iconer" control panel.
-rd
Ron DAscenzo
Consulting and Training
Center for Academic Computing
Penn State University
rmd103@psu.edu