page file

Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:03 pm

i only have 1 gig of ram,slaggy told me if i alter the page file size on my computer then this would help. however i can't remember if he said to make it bigger or smaller. its currently 768MB. thanks. i'm a bit of an ametuer in these things

Joined: Oct 13, 2005 Posts: 723

A page file approximately the same as your size of your ram is more than adequate and is recommended by microsoft

Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:13 pm

cheers mate, trying to squease the last few drops of performance without spending money. need more ram really,but it'll have to wait.

Joined: Jul 02, 2005 Posts: 1451

just CTRL + ALT + DEL and make sure u don't have too many processes running, i use to have the same prob with ram, and make sure your hard drive is always defragged and not clogged up with junk, because the page file accesses the hard drive alot.

Community Founder Joined: Jun 30, 2005 Posts: 2627

I find for gaming in Vista turning off the paging file makes a lot of positive difference Smile

I have got 4gb of ram though Laughing

Cheers
|2es-mrix

Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 107

Guide to Windows Performance, Optimization, Security and Tweaking.

Defragmenting:

Windows built in Defragmenter is pretty bog standard. Some good and much faster alternatives include Vopt XP, PerfectDisk and Diskeeper, try those for a good quality defrag. Before defragging it is always a good idea to delete all temporary files, temp internet files, empty your recycle bin (all in system tools > disk cleanup). There’s no need for Windows to be moving these files around, get rid of them. Also empty your windows\prefetch folder every time you want to defrag,.........emptying it will speed up your performance, and defragging with it empty helps move all your system files around without moving unnecessary files like these.

Pagefile Size and Location:

Ok, a very common one this…..generally it is considered that Windows is perfectly capable of organising you pagefile size so leave it to be ‘system managed’. If you really want to save on pagefile size, and have enough RAM (>512MB recommended) then u can decrease the size of your pagefile. It is generally not advised to totally disable the pagefile, but if you have 1GB of RAM some ppl say they can disable it with no adverse effects.
The location of the pagefile is also a common question. The only real performance advantage is if you move the pagefile to a separate partition on a separate physical HD.

To change your pagefile size and location with the default Category Control Panel:

1. Head to Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select Performance and Maintenance
4. Select System
5. Select Advanced Tab
6. Under Performance, select the Settings button
7. Select Advanced Tab
8. Under Virtual Memory, select the Change button
9. Adjust as needed, or select "No paging File," then select the Set button
10. Select the Ok button to apply the settings
11. You must reboot for the changes to take effect
--------------------------------------------------------------
[According to Blackviper.com:]
From Fastest to Slowest, these are the configuration you can try:

* No swap file at all. Some software may fail. You also need "much" memory to do this. Greater than 512 MB.
* A static swap file on a separate hard drive (and preferably, controller) from Windows and frequently accessed data.
* A dynamic swap file on a separate hard drive (and preferably, controller) from Windows and frequently accessed data.
* A static swap file on a separate partition, but on the same physical hard drive as Windows.
* A dynamic swap file on a separate partition, but on the same physical hard drive as Windows.
* The Default: A dynamic swap file on the same partition and physical hard drive (usually C) as Windows.

The Best XP Tweaks for improved Performance:

Two of the most resource hungry services on Windows XP can be disabled which will greatly improve performance.

1. System Restore - If you don’t use it then disable it. Personally I turn it off on all my drives except my Windows partition. This saves some HD space but keeps my C drive monitored, but for max performance increase turn it off altogether. By default, System Restore Service uses a LARGE amount of disk space to store rollback points. On large hard drives, this could be well over 10 to 20 GB.

To turn off System Restore Process:

With the default Category Control Panel:

1. Head to Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select Performance and Maintenance
4. Select System
5. Select System Restore Tab
6. Check "Turn off System Restore"
7. Select the Ok button to apply the settings

-------------------------------------------------------------------
After that, Disable and Stop the System Restore Service:
Start > Run > services.msc > System Restore Service > Stop and Disable.

Indexing Service

It uses about 500 K to 2 MB in an idle state, not to mention the amount of memory and CPU resources it takes to INDEX the drives. I have it turned off altogether. Blackviper would always recommend getting rid of this!

You can disable the service from:
Start > Run > services.msc > Indexing service > Stop it, then choose ‘disabled’ fro the startup option.

You can remove the function via the "Add / Remove Programs" icon in the control panel (Windows Setup Programs) to get rid of it altogether

========================================
Turn off Automatic Updates.

If you want to be in charge of your updating and also know exactly what you’re installing (always a good idea!) then u can free some resources and disable automatic updating.

[Note: It is very important that if you decide to disable the Automatic Updates Service, you check the Windows Update site often to ensure the latest critical updates and security patches are installed.]

With the default Category Control Panel:

1. Head to Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select Performance and Maintenance
4. Select System
5. Select Automatic Updates Tab
6. Select "Turn off automatic updating."
7. Select the Ok button to apply the settings

After that go into Start > Run > services.msc > Automatic upadates > turn it off and disable it from statup

========================================
Remove Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing.…..unless you use them obviously!

Take note: Remote Desktop Sharing is NOT available with Windows XP Home. You may request assistance from someone ONLY using Windows XP Pro.

With the default Category Control Panel:

1. Head to Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select Performance and Maintenance
4. Select System
5. Select Remote Tab
6. Uncheck both "Remote Assistance and Desktop Sharing" options
7. Select the Ok button to apply the settings
======================================
Disable Windows XP Themes

Used to display all those new XP themes and colors on your desktop. If memory conscious and does not care about the "new" XP look, disable this service to save RAM. I have observed between 4 MB to 12 MB of RAM used for the new themes.

With the default Category Control Panel:

1. Head to Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select Performance and Maintenance
4. Select System
5. Select Advanced Tab
6. Under Performance, select the Settings button
7. Select Visual Effects Tab
8. Select "Adjust for best performance."
9. Select the Ok button

After that, Disable and Stop the Themes Service:
Start > Run > services.msc > Themes Service > stop and disable it from startup

============================
Add/Remove any unused programs

Go to the "Add Remove Programs" and click the "Windows components." Here, take out all the rubbish you do not need. Such as "MSN EXPLORER" and the likes

After Removing the unused Windows components, ensure that you check back up on the services that you disabled. Some like to go back to Automatic after playing with the Windows components (namely COM+ and Help and Support).
============================

Clean your System Tray

Remove any excess icons (all of them, basically) from the system tray (lower right). Contrary to popular belief, those little "quick access" icons take up a lot of room.

For example, MS messenger takes up about 3.6 MB just sitting there... not even logged in... Bring it up, select tools, options, then uncheck "load at startup" and "allow to run in background."

Also, Creatives "AudioHQ" running is REALLY not required. Uncheck "Load on Startup" and "Show icon on Taskbar" in AudioHQ's Options menu.

ICQ's little "Net Detect" sucks up WAY to much memory. Make it go away.

Various Quick Tweak icons and even EZCD creator's icon annoys the hell out of me. Make them all go away. If you just HAVE to have that quick access to those programs, place them in the "quick launch bar" (located in the lower left by default, where IE and "Show Desktop" buttons are). The icons will not clutter your desktop and you can easily hit them from any normal windows application. To top it all off, they do not take up memory or resources constantly running in the background. Another plus, this will reduce your boot up time.
============================
Use Regedit and check your startup activities

Start > Run > Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

Have a look in there and remove (delete) anything you don’t want loading up on startup. Be warned, messing around with the Reg without knowledge of it can cause you problems!! Quicktime task is one which always seems to appear in here, delete it (as it does nothing!) and then go into your program folder for Quicktime and delete qttask.exe from in there so it wont reappear in your registry later
===========================

Use Msconfig

I run msconfig and get rid of any annoying startup programs that may be hiding from me.
Start > Run > msconfig > Startup (don’t disable services from in here, use services.msc in ‘run’ instead)
============================

Disable Hibernate Function

To save on disk space is it a good idea to disable the hibernate feature from Windows. Do so in Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > Untick ‘Enable hibernate’

==========================================

Slow Shutdown Problems on XP

Specify the Response Time for Hung Applications (All Windows)

This setting controls the amount of time to wait for a response from a hung application before the system task manager automatically terminates the task.

Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called "HungAppTimeout" and set it according to the value data below.

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
System Key: [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
Value Name: HungAppTimeout
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
Value Data: Time in milliseconds (1000 = 1 second)
----------------------------------------------

Stop Windows from Clearing Pagefile

start>run>gpedit.msc>computer configuration>windows settings>security settings>local policies>security options>"Shutdown: clear virtual memory pagefile" CHANGE this to disable. Reboot. (It won't stop it from clearing the page file first time you reboot, straight after you have changed this setting.)
-----------------------------------------

what graphics card you running? if it's nvidia, try this:

go to "run" in start menu, type "services.msc" look for "NVIDIA Display Driver Service" and stop and disable it. this service isn't needed and is commonly the cause of slow shut downs with nvidia drivers.

also go to "run" in stat menu, type "regedit" then go to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

then just delete and key that relates to software you know you don't need starting up, but remember to back up your registry before doing this in case you balls up

---------------------------------
If you run the Logitech iTouch software for a keyboard this can sometimes cause some problems, so try uninstalling it

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:31 pm

you really know your stuff t-bone. cheers for that mate,must've taken you ages,much appreciated. i've a agp saphire radeon x1650 pro graphics card. one bit of confusion,is a bigger page file better or smaller? Question

. i thought bigger so increased it last night,should i make it smaller Question

thanks again.

Joined: Dec 17, 2006 Posts: 201 Location: Scunthorpe UK

Hi Rogue,
Basically your pc uses the page file as if it were ram.
I too only have 1gig of ram so I have set the page file at 2gigs.
When you go to the page file settings it says what your system recomends the size should be, set the initial size the same and the max size at 2gig . You should be ok at that, also if you have a seperate partition or hardrive to your operating system partition, then its recomended to set the page file onthat drive for better performance , and clear it from the os'es partion!
Hope This Helps,
Thanx Gaz!

Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 421 Location: KERB CRAWLING

well can anyone tell me how to access page file on vista please?

Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 107

geordieste wrote:

well can anyone tell me how to access page file on vista please?

To adjust the Page File settings:

Press the Windows + Pause Break keys
> in the left pane click on Advanced system settings
> click on the Advanced tab
> in the Performance section click the Settings button
> click on the Advanced tab .
>click on the Change button.
>Highlight the drive you wish to work with.

Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 421 Location: KERB CRAWLING

Thanks so if ive got 2 gig of ram what should i put it to?

Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 107

geordieste wrote:

Thanks so if ive got 2 gig of ram what should i put it to?

For Vista - at least the size of the Ram you have installed, so in your case 2048 Mb....
Vista is very Ram intensive, so with onyl 2Gb you will probably be struggling with certain things, you could try to increase the Page File size to 4096Mb. This may help compensate for the 2Gb Ram. Vista can also Increase Page File sizes on the fly, but this may cause increased defragmentation of your drive...

Ideally you could do with 4Mb of Ram and a Page File size of 2048Mb. Also if you are running at this, then you should make the drive static or lock the "max / Min" Page File size equal to that of your Virtual Memory Window.

If you have two Hdd's

The second drive should be as fast or faster than the OS drive (or there is no reason to do this).

Make 2 page files, one on the OS drive, one on the first partition of the second drive.
The sizes should be at least the size of the amount of memory you have. For example, if you have 2 GB of RAM then 2 page files of 2048 MB.
This allows for plenty of space and Vista can choose the drive that is least busy when it needs to access the page file.

Also how many Hdd's do you have?

Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 421 Location: KERB CRAWLING

I have 2 raptor hd's at 10,000 rpm.

Community Founder Joined: Jun 30, 2005 Posts: 2627

I dont use a paging file at all and my games run far better Very Happy

with this topic I did decide to get one back but found lag judder ingame so switched it off again Wink

Loved all the other tips though Very Happy

Cheers
|2es-mrix

Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 107

If it were me , i would just increase the Page File size on the same Hdd and defreg regularly - until you get more Ram, then you can tweak things alot better...

Also you can increase performnce by using ReadyBoost !!!

To use ReadyBoost, you need to get a decent Flash Drive with reasonable amount of memory..there is no security risk as it is Encrypted...

ReadyBoost is not:

- a replacement for an adequate amount of system memory
- a replacement for the page file (it works in tandem with it)

How to use ReadyBoost

Open up Computer >
right-click on the drive that you want to use and choose Properties >
click the ReadyBoost tab >
click Use this device >
optionally choose how much of the device to use.

Space needed - min. 256 MB, max 4 GB (because ReadyBoost can compact this data this can yield up to 512 MB and 8 GB respectively)

Recommended, ratio 1:1 to 2.5:1 (2 GB RAM would be 2 GB - 4 GB of flash drive)