Setting the Virtual Memory of Windows

"Virtual Memory" is a location on a hard drive which Windows can use when it needs more memory than the physical amount of Random Access memory (RAM) that is installed. The Pagefile.sys (hidden) file is created and used by the Windows "Virtual Memory" system. Because it is on a hard drive it is slower than RAM. If your computer is running slow and if you hear a noise - as mother says "like its making popcorn" then Windows is probably using the virtual memory and the noise you hear is the hard drive working overtime to try and keep up with the rest of the system. If its using virtual memory to this extent then, basically, you just need more RAM. (Of course you might want to check for viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, etc. before running out and buying it. You can do this for free by going back to my home page and clicking Security and then Solutions. Many of the solutions are completely free or offer a free trial.)

For the most part you can just leave Virtual Memory alone. But alas, many people like to tweak things to their ultimate performance levels!

There are many suggestions on how to manually set your pagefile size limitations. With Windows XP Microsoft has stated that you should let Windows handle it for you as they have improved that functionality a lot over Windows 2000 and older versions of Windows. A lot of training institutes state that you should size the pagefile from 1.5 - 3 times the size of the RAM of the system.

Here is another more customized approach:

1. First get plenty of RAM Windows XP should have a minimum of 256MB and 512 is preferable. If you use your computer for more than browsing, email and the occasional game of Freecell then get as much RAM as you can afford.
   
   

2. If you can, place your pagefile on a separate hard drive from the OS and if you can place it on a separate hard drive form your applications.
   
   

3. Defrag the hard drive you are going to place it on before doing so. A fragmented pagefile is really slow!
   
   

4. To check how big your pagefile should be:
   

   • Use your computer for the day or all week if you wish. Before shutting it down close all, open the task manager, look at the performance tab, look at the peak usage of memory near the lower left corner.
     
     

   • Calculate: peak usage (in KB)/1024 - total physical memory in MB = pagefile maximum usage in MB
     
     

   • Round "pagefile maximum usage in MB" up to the nearest 50MB
     
     

5. Set your "Pagefile" or "Virtual Memory's" "Initial" and "Maximum" sizes to that value and you should get the maximum performance.
   
   

6. If you change the way you use your computer (bigger files, different programs, more programs at once) you should redo this. You may even want to do this over a week or two and take the highest value.

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Last Modified: 11/03/2008