The paging file serves as an addition to the computer's RAM and allows you to use more of it than it is physically installed in it. A portion of the memory is allocated on the hard drive, allowing applications to run that are short on physical RAM.
Necessary
A computer with the operating system Windows XP, 7 or Vista
Instructions
Step 1
To optimize the paging file on a computer running Windows 7 or Vista, open Control Panel and navigate to the System and Security category. On the page that opens, go to the "System" section. Click on the item "Advanced system settings", which is located in the left side window. In the "System Properties" window that appears, go to the "Advanced" tab, on which click the "Options" button located in the "Performance" section. The "Performance Settings" window will appear on the screen in which click the "Change" button located on the "Advanced" tab.
Step 2
To optimize the paging file on computers running Windows XP, open Control Panel and navigate to the Performance and Maintenance category. On the category page that opens, click on the "System" icon. The System Properties window will appear on the screen, in which go to the Advanced tab and click the Options button in the Performance section. In the window that opens, go to the "Advanced" tab and click the "Change" button.
Step 3
The "Virtual Memory" window will appear on the screen. This window allows you to set the paging file parameters that are more optimal for your work than the parameters used by the operating system by default.
Step 4
The paging file is located on the hard disk of the computer, the read speed of which decreases from the beginning to the end. Therefore, to get the best performance from the paging file, place it on the very first partition of your hard drive if possible. To do this, select all the other partitions from the list located in the upper half of the window, check the "No paging file" box for them and click the "Set" button.
Step 5
You can also change the size of the paging file to make it more optimal. By default, the Windows operating system chooses the size of the paging file itself. First, it sets the size to the smallest possible size to save as much free space on the hard drive as possible. As soon as the size specified by the operating system becomes small, it automatically increases it. At this point, the computer may freeze for a few seconds. If the increase in size occurs frequently enough, the computer becomes uncomfortable.
Step 6
You can turn off the automatic resizing of the paging file by immediately setting the appropriate size for it. To do this, select from the list the partition where the paging file is located and check the box for the "Specify size" item. Specify in megabytes the minimum size of the paging file that will not require frequent enlargement during operation in the "Initial size" field. Also specify the maximum size that the system can allocate for the paging file in the "Maximum size" field. It should be large enough to cover all your RAM needs.
Step 7
If your computer is running Windows XP and has enough physical memory to run, you can dramatically increase its performance by completely disabling the paging file. To do this, select one by one all the partitions from the list on which the paging file can be located and check the box for each of them opposite the "Without paging file" item. For Windows 7 and Vista operating systems, disabling the paging file can, on the contrary, reduce the performance of the computer, so for these operating systems it is undesirable to disable it completely.
Step 8
After you finish modifying the paging file settings in the Virtual Memory window, click OK and then Apply in the Performance Options window. Then close all open windows and running programs and restart your computer. After the reboot, all the settings you made will take effect.
