page file usage

[Dick M.]

I have windows Xp and 280 MB of memory.
When I open Windows Task Manager, I see
that the Page File Usage History is always
absolutely steady at 141 MB.

Is this supposed to vary with time?
Is 141 MB a good setting?

Dick

 

[Harry Ohrn]

check Alex Nichol's page here for info about pagefiles
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have windows Xp and 280 MB of memory.
When I open Windows Task Manager, I see
that the Page File Usage History is always
absolutely steady at 141 MB.

That measure is very misleading, as it includes all allocations of
memory that have been made but not taken up. Read up at
www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm and try the tools linked to see how much
*actual* use of page file is being made - near zero would be a fair
guess. Especially as that figure is steady - the system is finding some
other use (if only to cache files just in case) of all the real RAM, and
this amount is purely that 'allocated by not used' part