Page file size

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jimmy G.
  • Start date Start date
J

Jimmy G.

I've been reading about page file size, until my eyes hurt. I've read on
Microsoft & at Doug Knox's site. I'm more confused than when I started out!

Here's my question.

I had someone put another stick of memory in. I had 256, and added an
additional 512. I don't really use a lot of programs, except for the likes
of a Word document while surfing the net, and maybe have OE open.

They increased my page file from ( I believe it was 364? or something in
the 300's) to 1024 minimum and 1024 maximum. This goes against what I
gathered from reading. I gathered I shouldn't have to have a large page
file, since the memory is more.

From Doug's site, I downloaded the page file monitor. But, whatever it ends
up telling me, I don't know what to do with the information!

So, if you provide me with links, I'll really be confused.

Is there a simple answer? Reason why I ask, it seems when I just run a
fresh scan on my AV, seems like it takes forever, since the page file is
larger.

OS is XP Home, with 30 g hard drive. I have about 1/2 of the hard drive
empty/full.

I hope I explained this well enough.

Thanks!
 
Hi,

Reduce the mimimum to 100, then monitor the page file and see if this even
gets used.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
FWIW... the default pagefile settings on a system with 1GB of memory are:
Custom size: Initial size (MB) 1536 and Maximum size (MB): 3072. I leave
mine at the default. It has never grown above the minimum.

In general, on a system with plenty of memory, pagefile use is usually a
good thing. The system is being "smart" about what to put in the pagefile to
allow all that physical memory to remain available. On a system with
minimum memory, pagefile use is necessary but not good. Because you are
working off of disk since the system is forced to put stuff into the
pagefile that it otherwise would not have.

-Frank
 
Just 3 points to consider here from my experiences with the windows pagefile
on many MS OSes. One is windows usually makes a pagefile in size
referencing the RAM. And, the pagefile is seldom used to any great extent
with users such a you in your specific case. The pagefile will fragment on
the default C: partition, and will cause consequential file fragmentation to
other files as a result.

Rather than experimenting and playing with something that is fragmenting
your other files, put the swapfile on a dedicated partition of another
physical hard drive of equal or greater access speed, at the beginning of
that hard drive. 4GB partition size is usually adequate. Let windows
handle the swapfile size constraints. The bennies are that fragmentation
will drop on the windows partition, and you can maximize use of windows
memory without sweating the swapfile size at anytime.
 
Jimmy G. said:
I've been reading about page file size, until my eyes hurt. I've read on
Microsoft & at Doug Knox's site. I'm more confused than when I started
out!

Here's my question.

I had someone put another stick of memory in. I had 256, and added an
additional 512. I don't really use a lot of programs, except for the likes
of a Word document while surfing the net, and maybe have OE open.

They increased my page file from ( I believe it was 364? or something in
the 300's) to 1024 minimum and 1024 maximum. This goes against what I
gathered from reading. I gathered I shouldn't have to have a large page
file, since the memory is more.
Click to expand...
"They increased my page file" Who would that be?
From Doug's site, I downloaded the page file monitor. But, whatever it
ends up telling me, I don't know what to do with the information!

So, if you provide me with links, I'll really be confused.

Is there a simple answer? Reason why I ask, it seems when I just run a
fresh scan on my AV, seems like it takes forever, since the page file is
larger.
Click to expand...
Yes, there is. Let the system manage the page file size. It will increase
or decrease the size in response to actual needs rather than some notion of
what the size should be.
It is doubtful that the size of the pagefile has any effect on scan time.
OS is XP Home, with 30 g hard drive. I have about 1/2 of the hard drive
empty/full.

I hope I explained this well enough.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Jim
 
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