Know thy lag

Listen. There are a bunch of things in SL that cause lag. Lag comes in 2 major varieties. Server lag and Client lag.

Server lag is when someone has complex scripts running which slow down the machine that the sim is running on. Usually its when a person has too many listens and sensors running. Fortunately the Lindens are really great at fixing this problem....

Another example of server lag comes from casino/camping chair places. When there are a bajillion people in a sim, the sim has to keep track of them and their attachments... in additon to the things that belong in the sim. If people remove some of their HUDs and other attachments when camping... it makes everyone a much happier camper.

The second type is Client Lag.... which also come in a variety of types.

Particles are a good example of client lag. The lag you experience has NOTHING to do with the particles themselves only your machine. Usually its just a matter of going into preferences and tuning the particle count down from the thousands it is at, to about 512ish. Very simple solution.

Textures also cause client lag. Anyone who has landed in the middle of a mall can tell you about this type of lag. Lots of very small objects with HUGE texture maps. This is usually a result of low bandwidth or not enough memory on the machine you are on. Once again fairly simple solution... lower draw distance in preferences.

Any more lag-prevention tips out there?

Hoocie hairs, the prim Torus is a major client side lagger.

Create a cluster of 100's of them , get camera near it , fps drop like a rock.