Optimizing The Page File
The page file is used by the Windows operating system for storing random information. The page file is used by the Windows operating system when there is not enough room in RAM or the files are needed but neccessarily at the moment.
If you use more than one hard drive there is an option you can use to tweak the performance of the page file. This option does not really improve performance in a two partition scenario but must be used with a secondary drive as you can move the paging file to the secondary drive leaving you c: drive free to perform other actions.
First check to make sure you have a secondary drive. You must first log in with an administrator account.
1. Click Start, Run (just Start in Vista)
2. type diskmgmt.msc, and press <Enter> to open the Disk Management utility (click Continue in the User Account Control, if prompted).
The bottom pane shows each disk installed on your system and the corresponding drive letter. When considering which drive to use choose the fastest drive to store the page file on. You will need to review the hard drive specifications for each model installed in the computer to determine which should be used.
Note: Internal drives are faster than an external drive in most cases.
3. Right click “My Computer” and choose properties
4. ON the system properties page choose the “Advanced” tab
5. Under performance choose the settings option and then the advanced tab on the subsequent window
6. Under Virtual Memory click Change. In Vista, deselect Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
7. In the drive list select a partition on a different drive where you want to add another paging file
8. Select Custom size if you would like to set the size yourself and type in the initial and maximum size (Microsoft says making them the same amount is most efficient configuration)
Note: If the partition you select contains another installation of Windows you will receive an error message warning that the file pagefile.sys already exists. If the two operating systems are not running at the same time through virtualization then it is safe to overwrite pagefile.sys.
You wil receive a notification upon completion that the settings will take effect after performing a restart.
Dramatically Speed Up Your Computer!
Doing as the author suggests MAY improve performance. But on most modern systems the pagefile is not accessed enough for this to make much difference. A far better option is to add more memory as this will improve performance far more than anything you could do with the pagefile.
For most users the “System Managed” option will be optimum. Pagefile configuration is a complex topic. To make changes that are effective you will need far more knowledge than could possibly be conveyed in a small article like this. Even many computer profssionals do not understand this adequately.
Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA