Nicholaz Baresford a.k.a the mad patcher is one of those residents that spend their time enjoying the opportunities of open-source, messing the code, tweaking and fixing the second life client. Now, we are about to see what a guy that really knows what he's talking about have to say about how to make your second life better. At least in the meaning of the performance of the client. 

1. Use a viewer that does not leak memory. Nicholaz regularly patches every edition of second life client. They are downloadable on his blog. Unfortunately for some of us, windows versions only, so I cannot tell you how better than official releases they are. If you tried them, please share your opinions with us down in comments.
2. Use a reasonable setting for Adv. Graphics, Video Memory. If you set your video memory setting too high the whole system will go slower. Maybe I'm wrong but it is highly possible that some configurations will crash because of this. 
3. Use the Disk Cache. Contrary to video memory, this slider goes far right. Keep your hard-disk tidy and unfragmented and get a bit of free space. You need it in your second life.
4. Make the Network setting match your connection. This is your world and your imagination, but your imagination does not affect the speed of your internet connection. Be honest with this parameter. And if you download music while being in second life (do you really have to?) or have some other heavy users of bandwidth, count them in.
   
5. Reduce Draw-Distance. Yes, I know that sky looks much better if drawing distance is set to 512m. But, it makes you a whole lot slower. And it makes the chaos of the mainland more visible, too. This slider is one of my common accessed. It is on 92 meters most of the time, raising only if I need to take a photograph, getting as low as 64m if the sim is laggy. What is the point of nice background if I walk like through the mud?
6. Close programs in the background. Do you really need them all? Have you forgot to close Photoshop you used hours ago? And all those little things in the tray? Many of them are unusable crap that software companies forced into your machine. Some of them are nice things but you don't need them all the time. They are not only ruining the enjoyment of your second life, they are slowing your machine all the time. Nicholaz also mentioned anti-virus software. Yes, they are probably the worst. But, can you be on the internet without them? I know I can, but this is not a place to tell you that living with linux is great.
7. Upgrade to 1GB RAM. If you ever think of putting a bit more money in your hardware, place it in RAM. New processors are great, but if you want to actually see your machine flying, it is the memory you need.
8. Buy a $100 video board. Another one if you are upgrading.

 These eight are Nicholaz' tips. Do you have any of your own? Please, do tell.

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