Pagefile plus Indexing ?

[Guest]

I have 2GB RAM P4 3.2 Dual core and am unsure what to do with my Pagefile. I
let Vista manage after the inital install but noted when I installed
Diskeeper my pagefile was fragmented (there is no option to defrag. on boot
in the beta) I then set the page file larger than my physical RAM but even
hoping to remove fragmentation. I know the only way to defrag. the PF is when
booting but adivce on an ideal size or system managed would help.

Only had time to study this area tonight. I know Vista is not fully
optimised but I would appreciate any advice on the setting - leave Vista to
manage or set figures?
I was going to clear PF on shutdown as in XP but didn't as I am unsure if
Vista works in this way - I was going to enable it again when rebooted.

One other question, is it fine to turn off the indexing service as I know
this is working when I don't really need it for the beta install. I tried to
remove the folders but couldn't modify even as Admin. Found the service but
didn't want to stop it if this would be detrimental to a workig install.
Thanks for any advice

 

[Alan Simpson]

It depends on how you use your system. Vista won’t use anywhere near 2 GB of
RAM. So as far as Vista goes the pagefile is irrelevant. If you consistently
run apps that use more the 2GB of RAM, it would be better to get more RAM
than to rely on the pagefile. The pagefile will slow things down
considerably, fragmented or not.

I don’t think you’ll lose any functionality beyond virtual folders if you
turn off the search index. I haven’t actually tried running Vista without it
yet, so I can’t be sure. But I think all you’re doing there is reverting to
an old XP style Search Companion thing where each search slogs through the
whole filesystem.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your reply.
I am intending to install more RAM when Vista is realeased especially for my
main computer which is faster but was left to upgrade my RAM from current 2GB
to as much as it can take plus a really good GC. The RAM upgrade is on my
list which is where I intend to run Vista

Actually I may think about adding RAM to my test computer even another GB -
will check the way it was set up but know the on this motherboard was capable
of 4GB. I will be considering Vista for this computer after I have it for
real on my main computer.

I noted before I shut down last night the page file allocated was a bit high
but hopefully when I boot today I can try and set this lower without causing
instability. I don't run applications on this PC which would write to the PF.
All these applications would be on my main computer just now.

I don't even use search in XP and have disabled indexing there - will check
again with Vista. I have used search simply as it was convenient to find
things other than that I have found my way about the things I need.

Thanks for you help