Clearing the Paging File on system shutdown

[Jeff]

I recently have started using X-Setup Pro on my XP Home system. One of the
included tweaks is an option to "Clear the Paging File on system shutdown".
This would be for security reasons. Is this a good idea? Is there a
downside to choosing this option?

Thanks

--

Jeff McPherson
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
(e-mail address removed)
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free by AVG

 

[David Candy]

Takes longer to shutdown

 

[R. McCarty]

Theoretically, some secure types of data could be left in the
Pagefile and could possibly be extracted. It's one of those
low percentage type of issues. It only takes a few additional
seconds at shutdown to purge it out. I would check the option
see how it affects shutdown on your machine. If the impact is
negligible then leave it in place. The other thing to consider is
the memory count in your PC. If you have 256 or greater then
little is any data is mapped into the pagefile to begin with.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks.

--

Jeff McPherson
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
(e-mail address removed)
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free by AVG

 

[Alex Nichol]

I recently have started using X-Setup Pro on my XP Home system. One of the
included tweaks is an option to "Clear the Paging File on system shutdown".
This would be for security reasons. Is this a good idea? Is there a
downside to choosing this option?

Unless you have some high sensitivity information where you are
justifiably paranoid that someone might manage to retrieve some of it by
using a different system to get at the page file and extract the
information, I would not turn that on. At best it takes time; at worst
it *may* result in trouble with shut down

 

[Jeff]

That makes sense. Thank you.

--

Jeff McPherson
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
(e-mail address removed)
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free by AVG

 

[Brian Durham]

Hi - not strictly related, but following a virus infestation I lost so
much XP pro that I ended up trying to do a `repair' with Dell's disk.

What I got is something that reboots as far as the AGP driver, but then
(even in Safe Mode) has a long think and tells me:

`not enough memory or paging file quota to ... specified operation'

and starts to reboot again.

I found a newsgroup elsewhere where the guy was told to get some new
memory and it worked, but I am reluctant to believe that the XP repair
process can damage good memory, or even that this is a bizarre
coincidence.

So can I first try adjusting the paging file quota from the recovery
console? - Brian

That makes sense. Thank you.

Brian Durham
(e-mail address removed) (home)

 

[Alex Nichol]

I found a newsgroup elsewhere where the guy was told to get some new
memory and it worked, but I am reluctant to believe that the XP repair
process can damage good memory, or even that this is a bizarre
coincidence.

So can I first try adjusting the paging file quota from the recovery
console? - Brian

Sorry - no you can't. But you *might* find it would help to delete the
existing page file from Recovery console, with
ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\pagefile.sys
DEL C;\pagefile.sys

A really serious virus infestation may well not have been cleared by a
repair reinstall, which restores the system without as far as possible
deleting other material, and you may find you have to do the complete
reformat and start over, If you do get it booted, read a new article on
'delousing' by MVP Richard Harper at
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

 

[Brian Durham]

Thanks Alex, tried it.

If I ask it to change all three attribs together it says the parameter
is not valid, and even running C:\WINDOWS>ATTRIB -H C:\pagefile.sys on
it's own gives me `the system cannot find the file or directory. The
XP Pro is under 2 years old (but I haven't been applying updates, hence
the severity of the virus attack, silly me).

Incidentally I think the machine is clean, both Stinger and Norton went
through it before I tried the repair. So I am assuming this is a
hangover from system changes made while the virus was in residence
(W32/Beagle.ai@MM). The virus stopped Norton Liveupdate which meant
that while Stinger flushed it out, Norton did not make any repairs.

If I can't get at pagefile.sys, might I achieve the same by FIXMBR? -
Brian

Sorry - no you can't. But you *might* find it would help to delete the
existing page file from Recovery console, with
ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\pagefile.sys
DEL C;\pagefile.sys

A really serious virus infestation may well not have been cleared by a
repair reinstall, which restores the system without as far as possible
deleting other material, and you may find you have to do the complete
reformat and start over, If you do get it booted, read a new article on
'delousing' by MVP Richard Harper at
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

Brian Durham
(e-mail address removed) (home)

 

[Brian Durham]

Alex - You were right in the first place, I ended up using the Dell disk
to install a new copy of XP Pro, actually on the same partition as the
dud, in a folder called Windows2 (Donald and Chellis, 2nd edition 2003,
26-27).

It seems to have found the documents and settings folders of the
previous installation, including data, and I am now reinstalling
programmes.

Very impressed with this. I am discouraging the family from trying to
use the old version which is there as an option at startup (still
doesn't work anyway), and am assuming I can eventually uninstall it.

I promise now to keep my security up to date! Thanks to the group for
patience. - Brian

Thanks Alex, tried it.

If I ask it to change all three attribs together it says the parameter
is not valid, and even running C:\WINDOWS>ATTRIB -H C:\pagefile.sys on
it's own gives me `the system cannot find the file or directory. The
XP Pro is under 2 years old (but I haven't been applying updates, hence
the severity of the virus attack, silly me).

Incidentally I think the machine is clean, both Stinger and Norton went
through it before I tried the repair. So I am assuming this is a
hangover from system changes made while the virus was in residence
(W32/Beagle.ai@MM). The virus stopped Norton Liveupdate which meant
that while Stinger flushed it out, Norton did not make any repairs.

If I can't get at pagefile.sys, might I achieve the same by FIXMBR? -
Brian




Brian Durham
(e-mail address removed) (home)

Brian Durham