forcing Vista

[b11_]

How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?

No forcing is required. That's what it does.

 

[Spanky deMonkey]

But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap
file!

Take a trip to Redmond, arrange a meeting with the Project manager and the
team of programmers responsible for the design of the memory module and see
if they can adjust it just for you. Report back your progress when
completed.

Just FYI

 

[Steve Easton]

Because if it did, it would temporarily freeze.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Just because you see swap file "in use" does not mean it is active use. Many
applications reserve an allocation of pages when started, even if they are
not actively used the space will remain reserved and often the program will
direct that some data be placed there. Vista, by design, will use the
physical memory for active processes.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap file!

Exactly what makes you think that? My guess is that you are confusing
page file *allocation* with page file use. Applications often
pre-allocate memory for *potential* use, and in many cases, that
potential use never becomes actual use.

 

[Song Tae-Hyun]

You could turn swapping off. I have 4GB of RAM (only 3.25GB is available
for use though) and I turned off swapping for a while. I can't say I
noticed any real difference in performance.

I have a RAID drive setup, so swapping is pretty fast and I have 4GB
ReadyBoost which is the maximum size for it.

 

[John Smith]

Vista is slow on any current technology hardware...

Vista is stupidly designed.

 

[b11_]

I am using a utility that displays "in use" and displays "allocated". The
computer has 2 gigs of installed memory. There is usually about 1 to 1.3 gigs
of free memory, 5-10 mbs of page file in use and 125-150 mbs allocated. Why
doesn't the O.S. use some free memory instead of the page file? What can one
do to force the O.S. to use free memory before using the page file?
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[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am using a utility that displays "in use" and displays "allocated". The
computer has 2 gigs of installed memory. There is usually about 1 to 1.3 gigs
of free memory, 5-10 mbs of page file in use and 125-150 mbs allocated.

So as I suspected, you are using almost nothing of the page file
(5-10MB). Allocated page file is *not* used page file. Space in the
page file is allocated in advance of use, when Windows thinks that it
*may* need to use that space later. That speeds up access to it, if it
does need it later.

Why
doesn't the O.S. use some free memory instead of the page file?

It does. Your numbers above show that almost nothing in the page file
is being used. There is nothing wrong and nothing to fix.

What can one
do to force the O.S. to use free memory before using the page file?

No forcing is necessary. That's the way it works.

By the way, if the numbers you report above are representative of what
your typical use is, you have substantially more RAM than you need for
the applications you run. If you never need to use more than 1GB, you
would see the same performance with only 1GB installed.

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[b11_]

There is usually alot of free memory so why is there any page file in use.
The in use page file size should be zero. The O.S. should use the free memory
first.
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[Ken Blake, MVP]

There is usually alot of free memory so why is there any page file in use.
The in use page file size should be zero. The O.S. should use the free memory
first.

It does. 5-10MB of page file in use is a tiny amount--essentially
nothing.

Do not mix up page file in use with allocated space in the page file.

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