An Introduction to Qualitas MAX 8 and Memory Management for Windows

Introduction

Qualitas has provided memory management tools since the introduction of the first 386-based microprocessor in the mid-1980s. Since then, memory management solutions have matured to include the introduction of Windows 3.x; the inclusion of basic memory management tools with MS DOS 5 and 6; Windows 95 and most recently, the new RAM Doubling software. Even as the popular operating systems, including Windows 95, attempt to tackle new memory constraints, Qualitas MAX 8 is the only complete memory solution available today.

Is upgrading to Windows 95 for you?

Whether you already have a migration plan for upgrading to Windows 95 or are trying to develop one, this paper will outline the concerns and issues involved in choosing an operating environment for the future. Considering the monetary, training and support constraints, your plan may not allow for a total system-wide upgrade overnight. Or maybe you've used Qualitas memory management products in the past but are hestitant to implement our tools until your migration plans are complete. In either case, Qualitas MAX 8 can be installed on Windows 3.1x and DOS machines, and will also work on Windows 95 machines as you upgrade your workgroups. So whether you migrate slowly to Windows 95 or all at once, Qualitas MAX 8 is the solution for mixed environments.

One of Microsoft's goals for Windows 95 is to address the memory management pitfalls of Windows 3.1. It does not, however, provide all of the answers. Much of the Windows 95 operating system is new, coded in Win32 (Microsoft's 32-bit compiler). However, Windows 95 also contains much Win16 code (16-bit code, standard for Windows 3.1x) to retain backward compatibility with Windows 3.1x; to keep hardware requirements to a minimum; and simply because Win16 code is sometimes more efficient than Win32 code. Windows 95 also includes a full DOS component so users can run DOS applications and DOS sessions. The system startup files, including CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, are still necessary for backward compatibility in order to load 16-bit device drivers and resident programs. In fact, Microsoft continues to include its own MEMMAKER utility to optimize 16-bit drivers loading in your startup files under Windows 95, though it has not been updated for optimal functionality. If you think Windows 95 makes memory management a thing of the past, consider this:

If you don't upgrade all of your applications to the corresponding 32-bit versions, you still will be using the Win16 memory management structure in Windows 95 to run your old Windows 3.1x 16-bit applications. Therefore:

• Speed may not be enhanced;
• You may need to upgrade your hardware to a 486-based PC with at least 8 MB (preferably 16 MB);
• Applications may not be any more stable under Windows 95 than Windows 3.1x;
• You probably won't take advantage of preemptive multitasking;

Even if you upgrade all your applications to their 32-bit versions, the above problems may still exist. If you are planning your migration from Windows 3.1x to Windows 95, the following limitations apply:

• You use Windows applications that need access to your existing CD-ROM or fax modem -- which are still using real mode drivers. For various reasons, these may be unavailable as 32-bit drivers under Windows. This means you still need those real-mode drivers and TSRs in your start-up files. Other examples where you need to use existing real mode drivers are for discontinued products where VxD development is a low priority for the vendor, or the vendor is out of business. Many games and proprietary software packages are likely to fall into this category as it can be time-consuming and expensive to make the necessary changes.
• Many existing Windows applications will continue to require low DOS memory. Until they are updated to take advantage of new DOS APIs that don't require "Global DOS Memory" under Windows, these applications look to low DOS memory to satisfy memory needs. It is likely that many of these applications will not be updated, especially applications that have been specially designed and tailored for the corporate environment.
• You may have favorite applications that are not compatible with your other software; forcing you to use Windows 95's Single Application mode which doesn't load Windows 95 VxDs. Without the 32-bit drivers, you are forced to load your real mode drivers yet again.
• You use an application that currently misbehaves under Windows 3.x. There is no reason to believe these applications will magically work under Windows 95.
• You load Windows 95 from a compressed drive, a removable cartridge drive or even from a network. Each of these configurations require 16-bit real mode device drivers for the device. Just like Windows 3.x, Windows 95 itself will not load if there is not enough memory left over after these resource-intensive device drivers are loaded.

Therefore, whether you have a specific migration plan to Windows 95 or are looking for reasons to extend the life of your Windows 3.1x installations, Qualitas MAX 8 provides solutions for all your current and future Windows needs.

Why you need Qualitas MAX 8

Qualitas MAX 8 provides your memory management solutions today. Windows 95, Windows 3.1x and DOS applications benefit from having a third party memory manager loaded. Applications written for both Windows and DOS are sensitive to two factors: available low DOS memory and available system resources.

Qualitas MAX 8 provides more memory for applications running in Windows and DOS by providing the maximum amount of low DOS memory possible, and by altering the way Windows uses low DOS memory. Until all vendors produce Win32/Windows 95 applications and all existing drivers are ported to VxDs, users need memory management for a properly optimized system. As a Windows Development Partner, Qualitas has worked closely with Microsoft for years to ensure that Qualitas MAX enhances the Windows environment reliably.

New Trends in Memory Management

The new wave of memory managers on the market today address the Windows- specific issue of resource management for Windows applications. Instead of managing DOS memory, these programs increase RAM and system resources for Windows applications only. They accomplish this in two ways:

• Compress RAM or data residing in RAM to provide more general memory to Windows, and/or;
• Manage Windows system resource heaps to provide more space for Windows to store information such as DLLs, menus, buttons, icons, etc, therefore using low DOS resources more effectively for other applications.

Qualitas understands the importance of this trend and offers an alternative solution for managing Windows resources and incorporates this into Qualitas MAX 8.

New Qualitas MAX 8 Feature Set

Qualitas has updated the award-winning features of 386MAX and combined them with new technology for managing Windows resources to provide you with a complete memory and system resource manager -- all in one product! No other memory management solution for Windows 95, Windows 3.1x or DOS improves system performance as easily and safely.

New Features

• Go Ahead....open another window! Windows requires low DOS memory for DLLs for every single application you open, even on systems with large amounts of memory. Go Ahead allocates all low DOS memory so Windows is forced to use extended memory for DLL storage. Go Ahead then makes valuable low DOS memory available to those applications that really need it. The result is that you can open and run more Windows applications at the same time, especially if you run Windows utilities such as Norton Utilities, PC Tools, Internet programs and anti-virus tools.
• DOSMAX for Windows 95. DOS programs running under Windows 95 still have the same memory restrictions they've always had. DOSMAX provides up to 736 KB of conventional memory for each DOS session in Windows 95, just as it always has for Windows 3.1 environments.
• All new Windows interface! New Setup and Maximize let you install Qualitas MAX 8 and maximize your system from inside your familiar Windows environment.
• MAXedit allows you to easily edit any system files from within Windows.
• MAXmeter displays system resources in a convenient toolbar format.
• Toolbox provides a simple way to custom configure your Qualitas MAX 8 installation.
• Plug 'n Play Support Qualitas MAX 8 fully supports new Plug 'n Play extensions 1.0A by swapping Plug 'n Play BIOS support into extended memory. This frees up precious high DOS memory for TSRs and evice drivers.

Qualitas MAX 8 and Windows

How does Qualitas MAX 8 Benefit Windows Users?

Qualitas MAX 8 addresses the evolution from DOS to Windows to Windows 95 along with the increasing complexity of system configurations by offering the most reliable memory management solution for both existing Windows 3.1x versions and new Windows 95 technology.

As mentioned earlier, Windows is sensitive to how different types of memory is managed. Qualitas MAX 8 optimizes Windows memory three ways:

1. Increases DOS memory prior to loading Windows;
2. Increases memory available to DOS applications inside Windows;
3. Manages resources used by Windows for Windows applications more efficiently.

Qualitas MAX 8 increases low DOS memory

All versions of Windows are sensitive to the amount of low DOS memory prior to entering Windows. The amount of low DOS memory outside Windows becomes the total low DOS memory available in what's known as the "system VM" (Virtual Machine). This amount becomes the shared low DOS memory "pool" that Windows uses for windows and graphics management, DOS sessions and keeping track of the number of applications open. More memory available from DOS before entering Windows means more memory available inside Windows.

Qualitas MAX 8 uses these time-tested techniques for managing and increasing DOS memory:

• ExtraDOS reduces DOS overhead even more than DOS or Windows 95. DOS FILES, BUFFERS, COMMAND.COM, LASTDRIVE, STACKS, FCBS and more are loaded into high DOS, increasing conventional memory by as much as 20KB or more. Even Windows 95 requires some DOS overhead and provides no equivalent means to reduce this overhead.
• ROMSearch Technology offers a safe and effective means to recover up to 48K of additional high DOS memory without the performance loss associated with the aggressive memory recovery technologies used by competitive products. ROMSearch recovers the ROM address spaces that are not in use by DOS, making additional high DOS available for your programs.
• Qualitas MAX 8 detects the video chipset on VGA and SVGA systems and, where possible, recovers the Monochrome Display Area (MDA) as high DOS memory. The chipset detection enhances reliability on super VGA systems that use this area in certain graphics modes.
• Qualitas MAX 8 uses VGASwap to reduce fragmentation and create more usable high DOS by automatically relocating the video BIOS to the monochrome display area. The result is a significant increase in high DOS memory on any system that allows recovery of this area.
• Qualitas MAX 8's FlexFrame Technology loans the area that holds the 64K EMS page frame to resident programs at initialization time. Those programs that require a much greater initialization size than they require when resident are more likely to load into high DOS with this area available. The result is that more of your programs can fit into high DOS.
• Qualitas MAX 8 automatically configures MicroChannel Adapters to provide the most contiguous high DOS possible.

Qualitas MAX 8 and DOS applications in Windows

Though Windows enjoys enormous popularity, many MS DOS applications are widely used. Each new version of DOS includes basic memory management in recognition of the ongoing memory restraints, but each version also adds more and larger resident software. Qualitas MAX 8 uses these advanced memory recovery technologies to optimize memory otherwise unavailable for DOS or for Windows.

• WinSmart allows Qualitas MAX 8 to dynamically determine the optimal amount of UMB space required for Windows and automatically allocate valuable low DOS memory back to Windows after Windows is loaded.
• Use the Windows Properties sheet to enable DOSMAX for Windows 95, or use the Qualitas PIF Editor in Windows 3.1x to customize and fine tune DOS sessions to get the most memory for all of your DOS applications. DOSMAX provides up to 736 KB conventional memory for each DOS session and application.
• DOS programs won't run properly without the right Program Information File (PIF) under Windows 3.1x. Use Qualitas MAX 8's PIF Editor for clear descriptions and helpful hints as you are editing the file. It even allows testing PIF settings without ever leaving the editor.

Increased Windows system resources

Go Ahead. Since Windows requires low DOS memory for DLLs for every single application you open, you can run out of low DOS memory to open applications long before your extended RAM is even used. New Go Ahead manages low DOS memory more efficiently so you can open more applications without errors.

Go Ahead Notes

The new "RAM Managers" manage RAM and system resources inside Windows only. None actually double your physical RAM -- an 8 MB machine does not become a 16 MB machine. None provide benefit to DOS applications running inside Windows or to your DOS environment outside Windows.The goal for any of these "RAM Managers" is to allow Windows users to open more applications at once without affecting system performance and without having to part with large sums of money for hardware memory upgrades.There are two methods of managing memory inside Windows:

• Windows memory (or the data in memory) can be compressed; or
• System resource heaps can be "expanded" and managed more efficiently.

Not enough information is available regarding the safety of RAM compression techniques. However, RAM compression programs will not allow you to open more applications concurrently. These programs compress RAM or data in RAM or virtual disk space but have no affect on system resources. While they may allow you to open larger applications, you may still run out of free system resources to run multiple applications at once.Go Ahead technology more closely matches the system resource management model. To understand how Go Ahead technology works requires a knowledge of how Windows allocates memory using system "heaps". There are three system "heaps" available to Windows -- the USER, GDI and Global heap. The USER and GDI heaps are local heaps that manage window placement, icons, buttons, menus and other graphical components of Windows.The Global heap consists of all available low DOS memory plus all available extended memory. Low DOS memory can be used up in three ways:

• Any running program can request low DOS memory via the GlobalDOSAlloc call.
• When a program starts up, Windows allocates a small amount of memory (called a TDB -- Task Database) from the low DOS memory portion of the Global Heap to manage the program.
• When loading certain programs (typically DLLs), Windows allocates a special type of memory called fixed memory, which the memory allocation routine inside Windows always attempts to place at the lowest linear address, usually low DOS. Fixed memory is non-pageable memory required to be used by the interrupt handlers in DLLs since it doesn't have to be paged in and out of memory addresses.

Eventually, if you load the right combination of DLLs (over which you have little control) and other programs, Windows may run out of low DOS memory for the TDB. When this happens, Windows displays a message saying that there is insufficient memory to run another program.This is the principal reason why Windows can't run a program even though you might have plenty of extended memory in the Global Heap. With Go Ahead in the system, the low DOS memory portion of the Global Heap is managed more efficiently. Go Ahead separates out the low DOS memory from the Global Heap by allocating it all to itself, and parcels it out to programs which need low DOS memory specifically, such as Windows itself when allocating a TDB. Because there is no longer any low DOS memory in the Global Heap, fixed memory allocations now occur from memory above 1 MB and there is always plenty of low DOS memory to run programs.

Go Ahead scenarios

Results from Go Ahead are highly system and software specific. The environments that will see the greatest benefits from Go Ahead are Windows 3.1x machines running resident Windows tools since Windows 3.1x allocates system resources from below 1 MB, and since resident Windows tools tend to be the largest users of global DOS resources.

System: Pentium PCI/32MB/loading drivers for SCSI, IBM OS/2 Lan Requester/CD-ROM, MS Mouse and Sound Card/starting low DOS prior to running Windows - 530 KB (with Qualitas MAX 8 maximizing memory outside Windows)

Programs Loaded:

• WinMaster (PCKwik)
• HawkEye (Number 9 Imagine 128 graphics card utility)
• Whoop-it-Up! (sound utility)
• ExpressIt! (mhs e-mail front end)
• MAXmeter (Qualitas system resource display tool)
• QPOPUP (Qualitas DOSMAX tool)
• Growstub
• MS Word for Windows 6.0
• MS Excel 5.0 MS Excel 5.0

With Go Ahead loaded, the following applications could also be loaded:

• Corel Draw 3.0
• Lotus AmiPro 3.0
• CompuServe WinCim 1.3.1D
• SPF (PC DOS editor running in DOSMAX session)
• Second DOS session
• Third DOS session (Norton Commander 4.0 for DOS)
• Avery LabelPro for Windows 2.0
• Fourth DOS session

A sampling of popular software is listed below. Many of these items are run resident inside Windows and can take a substantial amount of system resources prior to opening any applications.

Results below are an average of tests run on an 486/66 with 8 MB RAM, DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11; 386/33 with 8 MB RAM running DOS 6.2, Windows 3.11; a 386/25 with 8 MB RAM, DOS 5.0, Windows 3.11 and a 486/66 with 16 MB RAM, DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.11

Program (low DOS Memory Used)(KB)

Programs typically open and running at all times such as Winsock, Norton Utilities, anti-virus, Organizer tools, cc:Mail and faxing software are the biggest users of low DOS resources and can prevent you from running multiple applications simultaneously.

Summary

Microsoft's eagerly awaited Windows 95 promises relief from memory problems, but it does not provide a complete memory management solution. Although Microsoft offers a "bootable" Windows to relieve users of seemingly endless DOS configuration problems, it is still necessary to load many device drivers the old way -- through system start up files. This process forces users to go through the hassle of trying to figure out how and where to load these drivers. The familiar CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT remain to maintain compatibility for situations where 16-bit real mode drivers are still needed by programs. Real mode drivers are also needed for loading Windows 95 from a network, compressed, or removable drive. Windows 95 is certainly an evolutionary step, but all of the old memory constraints associated with DOS remain.The optimal Windows environments are those where the maximum amount of low DOS memory is available prior to running Windows, and where low DOS memory usage inside Windows (the system VM) is more efficiently managed. As long as low DOS memory and low DOS resources are optimally managed, Windows can run as advertised, allowing the user to open and keep open more applications. Qualitas MAX 8 provides this environment.

Contact Qualitas via the Internet:

Sources:

True Bits on Upgrading by Andrew Schulman Windows Sources July 1995 v3 n7

Getting Ready for Windows by Michael J. Miller PC Magazine May 16, 1995 v14 n9

Win 95 cuts RAM Cram by Larry Seltzer Windows Sources March 1995 v3 n3

Is Windows 95 good news or bad news for memory managers? by Jeff Prosise PC Magazine Dec 6, 1994 v13 n21

DOS is alive, and, well... by John C. Dvorak PC Magazine Sept 13, 1994 v13 n15

Chicago's no panacea for memory problems by David Berlind PC Week Sept 12, 1994 v11 n36

Third-party memory not obsolete yet with Windows by Nick Anis Newsbytes Sept 21, 1994

[Products] [Orders] [Technical Support] [Registration] [Downloads]

About Qualitas  Return to Home Page