A paging file is a system file that the operating system uses as an “extension” of RAM, namely to store data from inactive programs. As a rule, the paging file is used when the amount of RAM is small, and the size of this file can be controlled using the appropriate settings.
How to manage the operating system paging file size
So, today we will look at how to change the size of the paging file using standard Windows XP tools.
Here you can see what volume is currently in use, what is recommended to install, as well as the minimum size. In order to change the size you must enter two numbers at the switch position "Special size". The first is the initial size in megabytes, and the second is the maximum size. For the entered parameters to take effect, you must click on the button "Set".
If you set the switch to mode "System selectable size", then Windows XP itself will regulate the file size directly.
And finally, in order to completely disable swapping, you need to set the switch to "No swap file". In this case, all program data will be stored in the computer's RAM. However, this is worth doing if you have 4 or more gigabytes of memory installed.
Low-performance systems with a small amount of physical memory need to increase its total amount by using the virtual address space of the hard drive. On a Windows XP-based computer, this is achieved by creating a paging file.
Theory
The operating system allocates a certain amount of virtual address space memory to the running process. This term refers to the number of addresses generated by the central microprocessor. Thus, a 32-bit processor generates no more than 2³² addresses. This number is the familiar 4 GB recognized by the 32-bit Windows XP operating environment.
Processes are allocated up to 2 GB of address space out of 4 GB. The remaining two “gigs” are managed by the Windows XP kernel. Virtual address space alone is not enough for programs to run. The allocated volume of addresses must still be mapped to physical memory, the size of which is almost always very limited.
What to do if there is a lot of virtual space, but physical addressing is very limited? The solution was to use a paging file. It is called paged because the memory is divided into pages, some of which are flushed to disk.
Resetting pages is necessary when there is not enough RAM to handle current jobs, and some pages are not needed right now. When the discarded pages are needed, an exception is thrown indicating that the required page is not in the physical address space. The error that occurs is processed by a special Windows XP manager, which begins a search on the hard drive for the missing page. Having found it there, the dispatcher loads (pumps up) this page for processing.
Where is he located?
In Windows XP, the paging file is found on system volume C. It is quite easy to see it by installing the Total Commander application. This file manager perfectly displays hidden system objects. The page file is located in the same path as the Windows system folder and is called pagefile.sys.
Pagefile settings are accessed through system properties. Paging file settings are controlled by settings defined in the system registry. It indicates its minimum and maximum size, as well as its location. These parameters can be changed, but it is not recommended to do this directly in the registry. The properties snap-in is quite suitable for this.
Opening the properties applet is quite simple. After opening the “Start” menu, right-click on the “My Computer” link. The context menu that opens contains the “Properties” item. By clicking it, you will launch the XP system properties window. The “Advanced” tab contains the “Performance” section, and in it there is a “Options” button. By clicking this button, we will launch the performance parameters window, in which we will need the “Advanced” tab.
To change the pagefile characteristics, you need to select the “Change” button in the “Virtual Memory” section. This will launch a utility that provides basic information about the paging file and allows you to make adjustments to it - increase the size of this object, for example.
Optimal size
You can completely trust Windows XP to increase or decrease the size of the paging file. The system will automatically set the minimum and maximum size of pagefile.sys. It sets the minimum parameter to the same amount of RAM. The maximum increase occurs with a factor of 3 - this characteristic is 3 times greater than the usual amount of RAM.
You can increase the size of pagefile.sys yourself. However, values that are too large are not needed for Windows XP. The most optimal option is considered to be a size that is 2 times the amount of RAM. When increasing the total amount of memory, for example, to values from 4 to 16 GB, you should not double the size of the paging file yourself. Virtual memory swapped from disk is very slow.
The paging file is used in Windows operating systems for cases when the computer does not have enough RAM. You can change the paging file size as follows:
1. Open the “Control Panel” through the “Start” menu.
2. If you have the “By Category” view selected in the “Control Panel”, then you need to perform the following steps:
Select the menu item "Performance and Maintenance"
If you have selected the “Classic” view in the “Control Panel”, then you just need to click on the “System” menu item.
3. In the system properties window that opens, click on “Advanced”.
4. On the “Advanced” tab, look for the “Performance” section and click on the “Options” button.
5. In the “Options” that opens, select the “Advanced” tab.
6. Now at the very bottom we look for the “Virtual Memory” section. There we click on the “Change” button.
7. A window will open in front of us in which we can actually edit the properties of the paging file. There are three options to choose from - set the desired size of the paging file (it is possible to set its maximum and minimum size), leave the system the ability to choose the size of the paging file, and not use the paging file at all. Therefore, the ideal option would be to set the paging file size manually.
What size should I set the swap file? This mainly depends on your requirements for the computer and the format of the tasks being performed. However, the following recommended values may be suitable for most users:
ATTENTION! The settings below are not absolutely correct and are for recommendations only!
As you can see from the table, with a memory volume of more than 8 GB, the need for a paging file practically disappears.
After you set the minimum and maximum size of the paging file, you must click the "Set" button. Then you need to click the "Ok" button and restart the computer to apply the new paging file size.
There is no such thing as too much RAM, and Windows XP has adapted to create virtual RAM on the hard drive. The operating system and running programs use the computer's RAM. When the space in it runs out, some data is moved from the RAM to the hard drive into a file called the Windows XP page file or virtual memory.
The system does not use this file as quickly as physical RAM, so optimizing the size of the Windows XP page file can significantly speed up your computer. In addition, I talked about how you can move some data from the page file to RAM, which also improves system performance.
In this article, we will look at how you can change the size of the Windows XP paging file, and in which cases, what values should be selected.
How to get to the Windows XP page file
To get to the paging file, you need to right-click on the “My Computer” shortcut and select “Properties”. In the window that opens, click the “Advanced” tab, then in the “Performance” block, click the “Options” button. A window will open again in which you need to select the “Advanced” tab, and then in the “Virtual Memory” block click on the “Change” button.
That's it, we see the size of the virtual memory of Windows XP.
How to change the size of the Windows XP paging file
At the top of the window that opens we see a list of all the logical drives that are on this computer. In the “Swap file” column, its minimum and maximum size, if any, is indicated.
To change the size of the paging file, you need to click on the desired disk. Below you will see the available free space on this sector of the hard drive, as well as three radio buttons. The XP swap file size can be selected according to the positions of this radio button.
Let's look at each of them.
- “Custom size” - this position allows you to independently select the size of the paging file by manually setting its maximum and minimum values. The minimum paging file value must be no less than what is specified in the “Recommended” line in the same window.
- “Size by system choice” - if you select this item, Windows XP will select the size of the paging file itself during operation.
- “Without paging file” - if you select this position, then there will be no paging file at all. But it is not recommended to do this.
Recommendations for setting the paging file size in Windows XP
- You can speed up your computer if it has more than one hard drive. To do this, you need to define some values for the paging file on the hard drive on which the operating system is NOT installed.
- If the hard drive with the operating system is divided into several sectors, then the paging file does not have to be located on the sector where the operating system is stored. You can experiment with the location of the paging file to achieve the best performance on your computer.
- The paging file stores sensitive information, including your passwords. Therefore, to reduce the chances of attackers, it is necessary to clear this file before each shutdown of the computer. To do this, go to the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management section and set “1” in the ClearPageFileAtShutdown parameter. If it is not there, then you need to create such a DWORD parameter. This will automatically clear the page file when you log off, but will slow down your computer shutdown by 5-10 seconds.
- For complete optimization, you can use special .
In order to make the most efficient use of system resources, you must be able to configure correctly paging file size. What is it and how can you use it to speed up Windows?
While working at the computer, we launch various applications. Each of them consumes a certain amount of RAM. If at some point there is not enough physical memory, the system can use the so-called virtual memory, which is located on the computer's hard drive in the form of a paging file. It is called, is hidden and lies in the root folder of the disk. If necessary, the system accesses this file, storing in it data that does not fit into RAM.
Disk memory works much slower than RAM, so to increase the speed of your computer it is better to purchase and install additional physical memory modules. But if you have an old computer and there is no way to increase the amount of RAM, you can increase the page file so that the amount of available memory becomes larger.
You can set the desired paging file size as follows:
IN Windows XP: Right-click on “My Computer” – “Properties” – “Advanced” tab – “Performance” – “Options” – “Advanced” – “Virtual Memory” – “Change”.
IN Windows 7: Right-click on “Computer” – “Properties” – on the left select “Advanced system settings” – “Advanced” tab – “Performance” – “Options” – “Advanced” – “Virtual memory” – “Change”.
A similar window will open in front of you: 
By default, Windows itself selects the size of the paging file and it is located on the system disk. In fact, it is recommended to place this file on any partition different from the system one.
Please note that the paging file must be located on the system disk to correctly record debugging information ( memory dump). If we disable it, then in the event of a system failure (the appearance of the so-called blue screen of death), we will not be able to analyze the memory dump and find the culprit of the BSoD. But for those who don't even know what a memory dump is, this is unlikely to be a problem. Most people look for the cause of BSoD by the error code on the blue screen. In any case, you will have to choose between performance and the ability to collect data about problems that have arisen.
So first we remove the page file from drive C. To do this, select this disk and put a marker in the “No paging file” item - click the “Set” button: To increase computer performance, the original The page file size should be 1.5-2 times the size of the physical RAM. Those. If I have 768 MB of RAM on my computer, then I set 1152 MB in the “Original size” field.
If you don’t know how much RAM is on your PC, you can do the following: right-click on the “My Computer” icon - “Properties” - on the “General” tab at the bottom, look at the amount of RAM: 
It is better to limit the maximum size to the same number as indicated in the “Original size” field. This will avoid fragmentation of the page file.
So, we set the size of the paging file. In my example I highlight drive D– I put a marker in the “Custom size” item (in Windows 7 this item is called “Specify size”) – I enter the number 1152 in the “Original size” box – I also enter it in the “Maximum size” box (by the way, all values entered here must be are multiples of 8) – press the “Set” – “OK” button: 
Reboot your computer for all changes to take effect.
Windows allows you to create a paging file on multiple drives at once. But I wouldn’t recommend that you do this - you still won’t be able to increase your computer’s performance this way.
In conclusion, I would like to say that all the steps to configure the paging file described in the article make sense if you have a weak computer and not enough RAM. If your PC has 4 GB (or more) of RAM installed, I don’t see much point in setting up the page file. In such a situation, it would be even better to do the opposite - disable it (in the “Virtual Memory” window, put a checkmark in the “Without paging file” item and click the “Set” button).
