The last suggestion is to use an optimizing defrag utility to organize the files within a partition. Windows ME offers such an optimizing defrag utility.
	Normally, when you run a defrag utility on a partition of your hard drive, the files within the partition are randomly sequenced from the beginning of the partition to the end. You may have an active “A” file near the beginning of the partition and an active “B” file near the end of the partition. If the partition is large with lots of files, like your APPS partition, then the time to move the read/write arm from file “A” to file “B” could be quite slow.
	When you defrag the partition using the optimizing option, all of the most active files are placed together near the beginning of the partition and all the less active are place near the end of the partition. Therefore, the read/write head will move more quickly between the active files without having to pass over many less active files.
	Be aware that most backup utilities will loose the optimization when the partition is restored and you’ll need to re-optimize the partition. PowerQuest’s Drive Image backup utility  preserves the optimization when restoring the partition.