Understanding and Optimizing Page Files

The paging file is a very important component of your computer, and its performance depends a great deal on how the paging file operates and is configured. The page file is very closely linked to the physical RAM that is installed in your machine. The purpose of the page file is to free up more of your memory and make more RAM available to use. The programs and applications you have installed on your computer can benefit a great deal from this increases amount of memory, and your machine will work a lot more efficiently.

Many people mistakenly believe that paging files are no longer necessary since today’s computers now have more memory than ever before. What they have not taken into account is that while modern computers may now have more memory, many of the programs and tasks that people use their computers for put more of a drain on their resources and memory than they did in the past. File-sharing programs, gaming consoles, hardware drivers and complex operating systems put a great deal of stress on the computer’s memory, and without a functioning page file, many of these computers would simply run out or resources and crash.

The page file is usually created during the Windows XP installation process and can be located on your hard drive. Since the page file is located in the hard drive, the page file can be vulnerable to many threats that can adversely affect its performance. Many of these problems can be resolved if your paging file is properly configured.

In most operating systems, the paging file is set to be 11mb larger than the actual memory. Depending on how much you use your computer and what you use it for, this is often inadequate and will result in performance and memory issues. Relocating the paging file to a separate disk and defragmenting the paging file on a regular basis can help alleviate this memory burden. You can also manually change the size and characteristics of the paging file to better suit your needs. In order to change the size of the paging file, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the My Desktop icon and choose PROPERTIES. This will open The System Properties window.
2. Click on the Advanced Tab
3. Click on Performance Options
4. Under Virtual Memory, click on the Change tab. This will open the Virtual Memory window

In order to change the size of the paging file, you will need to highlight the entry and change the Initial Size and Maximum Size options. When doing your modifications, keep in mind that the maximum size you can make your paging file is 4095MB and the maximum number of separate page files you can have is 16.