I used QEMM, a third party disk cache that could be configured on the fly (think it was Hyperdisk) and a bunch of 4DOS batch files to control the memory managment under MSDOS 5 without having to reboot for every different game. Some games needed loads of EMS, some needed loads of XMS, some needed maximum lower memory free, so would only use a fixed amount of memory leaving more for the disk cache etc

Kids have got it easy with the gaming now...

It is sad to say that I didn't legally own any of the above mention bits of software. I was a student on a small budget and simply couldn't afford them. At time time I had £10 a week to spend on food and had even given up on drinking (unless someone else was buying).

Since signing up for MSDN Universal the other week I am very nearly legal on all my software now. I think I only have Photoshop to come clean on, I expect I'll resist that one until Adobe introduce MS style activation.