Glad to see so many good ideas and hints.
Thought I might add a tidbit too.  Checking the performance tab on the WIN95 and 98 machines and making sure you are running 90% or so.  If yer not, close down everything except Systray and Explorer.  (Ctrl+Alt+Del).  I have also found as was previously mentioned, Instant Messenger is a hog as well as many Anti Virus products.
I am running WIN98 667 MHZ...256 MB PC133 RAM...GeForce2 32MB AGP.........SB16 old card....DSL and my FPS are solid at 45+ in 1024 x 768 16bit.  When I first built this machine, and in earlier versions, I started getting 100+ FPS at altitude, but 60+ to 70 in furballs, but I think the video card has lost some of it's virility with all the flying I do  

   I could update the drivers, but if it ain't broke, I won't fix it-or even try.  I can live with it like this for a while.
K-KENhttp://www.cutthroats.com/