Win95 is always swapping between its RAM and the hard drive's swap
   file, especially on 8 MB systems or systems with several programs
   running at once. To ease the swapping:
   
   1. Edit SYSTEM.INI; add this to the [vcache] section:

[vcache]
maxfilecache=1024 (on 16 MB systems, or 512 on 8 MB systems)

   2. Right click on My Computer, hit Properties, hit "Performance", and
   go through these settings:
     * File system/hard disk: read ahead size: 16 KB (Any smaller will
       make Win95 unstable)
     * File System/CD-ROM caching: reduce to around 250 KB, no less, and
       pick the "right" type of read-ahead access for your speed of
       CD-ROM (Making a double-speed drive use a quad-speed read-ahead
       doesn't always work!)
     * Virtual memory: Let Windows manage VM; it keeps the swap file as
       %WINDIR%\WIN386.SWP which you can erase in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Remove
       any swap file-related entries in SYSTEM.INI also.
       
   You will find these settings give the quietest hard drives, even with
   disk compression used!
   
   NOTE: Norton Navigator will cause additional disk swapping, because it
   maintains more shortcuts in the Start Menu which will verify that
   their targets exist.

     * 9.6.1. Why should I let Win95 manage virtual memory? 
       
   If you let Win95 manage virtual memory, it will try to grow/shrink the
   swap file as required. On systems with low disk space this is actually
   a GOOD thing, because it doesn't instantly eat hard drive space. On
   systems with large hard drives this will become an annoyance, and the
   swap file will fragment, slowing down swapping.
   
   Others (many others) suggest letting the swap file grow is a GOOD
   thing on big systems, because large programs can "Bottom-out" on fixed
   swap files. If you choose to let Win95 manage virtual memory, include
   this line somewhere in AUTOEXEC.BAT:

DEL C:\WIN95\WIN386.SWP

   So when your computer re-starts Win95 will re-build the swap file
   unfragmented. While you're at it, you can kill the contents of the
   TEMP directory the same way (DELTREE /Y C:\WIN95\TEMP\*.*).

     * 9.6.2. More on memory and disk cache tuning
       
   Alex Nichol explained a few things to me about the "Typical role of
   this machine" setting in My Computer / Properties. He explains that
   the "Typical Role" affects two special caches; the path cache
   (Directory cache?) and filename cache. Since a machine designated as a
   "Network Server" often has several different files open at once, it
   has larger filename and path caches. "Notebook Computer" also sets
   aside larger path and filename caches so you're using less battery
   power accessing the filenames and directories.
   
   This setting does not affect the main file cache (VCACHE) however, nor
   would it affect any real mode disk caching such as SmartDrive for
   devices driven with DOS drivers. You can adjust VCACHE in SYSTEM.INI,
   and if you use SmartDrive at all you can specify two parameters for
   file cache size as you always could in DOS.