Manual configuration of virtual memory on xp. Podchock file and correct sizes for different amounts of memory. How to control the scope of the operating system swap file

The virtual call is called that computer memory that contains a paging file located on the selected section of the installed hard disk called pagefile.sys. This file is not visible to the usual user, because it is hidden.

For the first time, the systems having virtual memory appeared in the 70s. The technology gained wider distribution in the 80s, and in the 90s it has already become used everywhere in personal computers. For a regular user, it has long been a standard way to increase the number of "RAM" of the computer, in the case of its critical lack.

Current operating systems allow you to significantly increase the computer paging file. Consider the action necessary for this on the example of Windows XP.

Increasing RAM swangup file in Windows XP

The first thing to do is to go to the Windows XP menu "Start", choose the "My Computer" item and by pressing the right mouse button to call the context menu.

The context menu can be as successful to call, by right-clicking on the "My Computer" icon being present on the desktop. In the window that opens, go to "Properties".

We go to the "Advanced" tab, where we are looking for the "Virtual Memory" field and click on "Change"

In the window that appears, you will see the "disk" value, with one or more listed partitions of your drive. Select the section on which it is supposed to place the paging file, and we lower the look just below, you can determine the size of the paging file.

Pay attention to the parameter "Free: 771 MB" present here. This is the amount of free space on the selected section of your hard disk. It is very important to make it so that after determining the size of the paging file, a free space remains on the hard drive. Especially relevant this remark will be for the disk on which the Windows XP system is installed. From the value of the free space defined by the system, take the exposed volume of the paging file and get a real free space. For the system disk, it is recommended to leave at least 1 GB. If the calculations go down less, then just select another partition.

How much does it cost to increase the paging file in Windows XP?

In this issue, Microsoft offers the following formula for calculating the Windows XP paging file: the initial size of RAM x 1.5. In the column "Paddock file" on any disk you will see this figure in the "recommended" string. In this case, the amount of RAM is equal to 1 GB or 1024 MB, and therefore the system recommends setting 1534 MB of virtual memory.

There is also a more advanced RAM relationship table and Windows XP virtual memory, which looks like this:

Transferring paging file to another disc partition

Action algorithm When transferring a paging file from one disk partition to another, it looks like this:

First we go into a familiar already a virtual memory menu, where the size of the virtual memory was changed.
Choose that disc on which the paging file is located, and click on the item "without paging file".
Click on the "Set" button and confirm the action in the window that appears.
Select a new disc partition that will now store the paging file.
We produce a choice of mode of operation:

"Size by selecting a system" (automatic adjustment, depending on the system needs in additional memory);
"SPECIAL SIZE" (the user can specify its value).

By saving the changes made, click "Set", then close all windows with the "OK" button and send a computer to reboot.

It is worth noting that it is not always an increase in the paging file is accompanied by an increase in efficiency. Rather on the contrary, if the size of the virtual memory is too increased, then Windows XP will work slower. The fact is that with the large amount of paging file, Windows will more often contact the fast RAM, namely to the virtual, which is located on a relatively slow HDD. After all, the reading speed from the hard drive is significantly lower than from the RAM, and therefore the large paging file is able to significantly slow down the computer and additionally load the hard drive, which will further reduce performance.

Thus, the main plus availability of virtual memory in your PC is the amount of memory available at the disposal of programs and games, much more than physically the installed RAM strips can be provided.

Cons of virtual memory also have a possible slowdown in the system of the system as a whole, as well as more intensive use of the hard disk, which can lead to the acceleration of its wear.

Optimize Podchock file

We list some simple tips on setting up the paging file in order to improve the performance of Windows XP.

If you are using only one hard disk, the paging file is better to locate on its system section.
If two or more hard drive is installed, it is better to transfer virtual memory to the fastest disk or arrange it in parts on several physical disks.
Create a paging file on several logical sections of one drive is not recommended, as it can strongly reduce the performance of the system.
If there are two or more hard drives, it is not recommended to place the paging file to the old models of hard drives - it will also reduce the overall speed of work.

Windows XP tolerates something that does not fit in RAM into the paging file. It is located on the HDD drive of your computer. If you have a SSD solid-state drive, then the need for this disappears in principle. HDD drive is a much slower device compared to SSD and RAM. Therefore, even with the growing paging file, your system can brake. Plus to this, the hard disk will work more intense and wearing stronger. Based on this, the "Podkock" technology is recommended to use only briefly, in case of the need to start a particularly demanding applications. In the rest, much more frequent cases, it is recommended to simply increase the amount of installed RAM.

The paging file in Microsoft Windows XP extends the amount available for applications and memory services, allowing them to be not limited to the RAM physically installed on the computer. Since the paging file is an add-on to RAM, its optimization allows you to significantly increase the speed of the system.

This article provides recommendations to combat fragmentation of the paging file, the choice of its optimal location and size, to ensure security and control the paging file from the command line. All this makes it possible to make the operating system much more productive.

Fragmentation file Podkachock

Fragmentation files slows down their reading from the hard disk. Fragmented occurs when creating and modifying files in a lack of free disk space. On compressed volumes NTFS files are fragmented more often than on uncompressed. The paging file is not an exception and also fragmented over time. True, the problem of fragmentation of compressed volumes NTFS does not concern it because it is not subject to compression.

Fragmentation of the paging file occurs in the absence of sufficient continuous disk space for its storage. At first, after installing a system, such problems, as a rule, does not occur. However, by default, the size of the paging file is dynamically changing and fragmentation begins with a lack of free space.

To find out how far the paging file is fragmented, you can use the built-in disk defragmentation utility (Disk Defragmenter). To do this, click the Start button (START), call the Run dialog box (Run), enter the DFRG.MSC in the Open field and click OK. In the window that appears, click Analyze (Analyze).

When the Disk Defragmentation dialog box appears, click the "View Report" button.

In the Analysis Report Report dialog box, find the "Pagrant File" section in the Volume Information field.

Click "Close" (Close) to close the "Analysis Report" dialog box.

To improve the performance of the system, it is worth removing a fragmented paging file and create it again, but in such a way as to eliminate the possibility of its fragmentation. To do this, you need to create a static paging file with the same minimum and maximum size. This does not give the system to dynamically change it and thus prevents fragmentation.

You can defragment the paging file in two ways: temporarily move it to another disc / partition or use a third-party utility, for example, Diskeeper. This application allows you to carry out autonomous defragmentation of the paging file after rebooting - while the system works in normal mode, the paging file cannot be defraged. Read more about Diskeeper can be found in the article "Diskeeper Professional: Brief Review".

If you do not have the ability to use Diskeeper, you will have to move the current paging file to another drive / section and create it again. To do this, open the Start menu, right-click on the "My Computer" element and select the Properties option. In the System Properties dialog box (System Properties), open the Advanced tab (Advanced) and click the "SETTINGS" button in the Performance section.

In the Performance Options dialog box that appears, open the "Advanced" tab and click the Change button in the "Virtual Memory" (Virtual Memory) section.

The Virtual Memory dialog box appears. Select the disc on which the paging file is stored, select the "Size" option and enter the value "0" (without quotes) in the "Initial Size" fields and "Maximum Size" (Maximum Size). Click the Set button (SET).

Now select another disk, select the "Special Size" option and enter the same values \u200b\u200bequal to the volume of the physical RAM of this computer in the "Source Size" fields and "Maximum Size" fields. Click the "Set" button, and then "OK". A dialog box appears with a warning that the computer must be reloaded before the changes take effect. Three times, click "OK" to close all dialog boxes and complete the process.
After that, a "System Settings Change" dialog box appears with a question, whether you want to restart the computer right now. Close all running programs and click Yes button.

After rebooting, open the Start menu and enter the DFRG.MSC in the "Run" dialog box to display a disk defragmentation tool again. In the window that appears, click Defragment (Defragment) to provide enough continuous free space for the new paging file. After the defragmentation is completed, click the Close button, and then close the defragmentation utility.

Call the "Virtual Memory" dialog box again and move the paging file to the source disk, pointing in the "Source Size" and "Maximum Size" fields the same values \u200b\u200bcorresponding to the volume of the computer's RAM. From another disk, remove the temporary paging file by reducing its size to zero. Click "OK" several times to close all dialog boxes, and then click the Yes button in response to the offer to restart the computer.

Now you can analyze the disk again using the defragmentation tool to make sure that the new paging file is not fragmented.

Placing the paging file

To achieve maximum computer performance, select the optimal placement of the paging file and calculate the most suitable size for it, after analyzing the speed of the system.

Where better to place the XP paging file - the question is controversial. The Microsoft TechNet website is given a variety of recommendations. After analyzing all the information available to me on this issue, I came to the conclusion that the paging file should be placed on a separate section, which does not have to be the RAID volume. You should not store the paging file on the physical disk on which the actively used section is located - for example, systemic.

It is best to place the paging file on a separate disk, especially if we are talking about high-performance systems with a large amount of RAM. If you do not have a financial ability to highlight a whole hard drive under the paging file, place it on the disk where rarely used files are stored - for example, backup copies.

You should not store the paging file on the RAID volume, since the recording speed in such volumes is rather low. RAID 5 arrays provide high reading speed, but the entry on them is not faster than on the usual sections. And since the paging file is constantly used to read and write data, the speed of operations must be maximum.

performance measurement

There are many formulas for calculating the optimal size of the paging file. Most of them are repelled from the volume of physical RAM, but wears an approximate nature and does not guarantee optimal performance for a particular system.

The best way to determine the most suitable size of the paging file is to analyze the speed of the system using the Performance Monitor, in which two special meters are provided for measuring the paging file activity: "% use" (% USAGE) and "% use (peak)" ( % Usage peak).

The first counter indicates which percentage of the paging file is currently used, and the second is what the proportion of the paging file is used during peak load when the system appeals to it most often. The last indicator is especially important when calculating the optimal size of the paging file.

First, create a paging file, one and a half times larger than the amount of RAM of your computer. Then click the Start button and enter in Perfmon.msc in the "Run" dialog box. The Performance Console opens.

Click the "+" icon in the toolbar. In the Add Counters window that opens, select "Paging File" from the Object File (Performance Object). Mark the Options "All Counters" (All Counters) and "Select List" (Select Instances from List), and then highlight the address of the paging file in the list. Press "Add" (Add) and "Close" buttons.

The interval between measurements is worth setting at the level of 15 seconds or even more to reduce the load on system resources. To do this, click the "Properties" button on the toolbar and enter the desired value in the "Remove the readings every x sec" field (Update Automatically).

After a couple of days, learn the measurement log. To do this, click the Review View button in the toolbar. If during the peak load, the percentage of using the paging file is less than 90%, it is not necessary to change its size. If this indicator exceeds 90%, you should study a detailed session report to understand how often the percentage of the paging file reaches a peak. If this happens quite regularly, it is worth increasing the size of the paging file and spend another measurement session.

Security file Podkachock

Among other things, it is possible to delete the paging file when the system is completed and control the command line utility. In some situations it is quite relevant.

You can configure the cleaning of the paging file when the system is completed using the Local Security Policy console, which is located in the Administration section of the Control Panel (Control Panel | Administrative Tools). Expand Safety Settings | Local policies | Security Settings "(Select Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options), double-click on the" Shutdown: Clearing Virtual Memory Page File "(Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Page File) and select the" Enabled "option.

This option is to use only if there are multiple operating systems on a computer, since in this case there is a real opportunity to read the contents of a single system to paging the file from another. If the operating system on a computer is only one, the paging file is always blocked and unavailable for viewing. It is not worth removing it, because it can be useful when investigating user actions.

Command Line Utility Page FullConfig

The Windows XP includes the PirtualConfig command line utility, which allows you to view and change the settings of the current paging file, create and delete additional paging files. When you first start the utility, a dialog box appears.

Follow the command CScript // H: CScript // S, And then again start the Page FullConfig command without switches.

To get a certificate for all the functions of the utility, execute the command Page FileConfig /?.

Conclusion

Windows XP automatically creates and configures the paging file when installing the system. Standard configuration of good, but it can always be optimized in accordance with the features of a particular computer. Recommendations that are given in this article make it possible to improve the settings of the paging file and thereby significantly increase the performance of the system.

Let's start with what is generally file Podchock And why it is necessary. This will allow You understand the principle of operation of the operating system and, further, the principle of optimization, which will be described below. File Podchock It is a temporary data storage (virtual memory), which operates operating system. It allows you to significantly expand the number of computer memory used at the moment when large applications are used that require a large amount of memory. At the time of downloading, unused programs from the computer's memory are moved to file Podchock, freeing the basic memory for an active application.

To increase productivity from podkachock file can Make a number of action. The simplest is its defragmentation. Defragmentation allows you to combine all fragments of the file together and reduce the time of moving the hard disk head, which increases the read speed from the file, thereby increasing the overall performance.

Defragmentation can be made any from programs for Disk defragmentation, but you can use a specialized utility that can be defrawarding the paging file every time the system is started. Second Step, less obvious, it is moving (if such opportunity available) file Podkachock On another hard drive. It can also contribute to an increase in system performance. This is due to the fact that when installing the system file Podchock Located in the root directory of the system disk, where the system itself is installed. Now imagine the system must be saved in file Podchock Some data and, at the same time, work with a program running, which starts from the same disk. It turns out, the disk must be done two actions: Save data in file Podchock and load data into memory that is necessary for the application.

To unload one disk and give him the opportunity to fully work with loadable data file Podchock It is best to post on the second disk that will only be engaged in work with a paging file. It is important to understand what to move file Podchock On the second disk it is necessary only if this second disk is used much less systemic and has at least the same reading speed and recording. Otherwise, moving will only slow down work, as the disk will have to work with the paging file.

Defragmentation of the paging file using PageDefrag

Program PageDefrag. Designed for defragmentation file Podkachock. This process can be easily automated by turning on the Defragment Every Boot option in the program window. Actually, this all setting up the program ends.

With move file Podkachock Everything is a bit more complicated than with the setup of the PageDefrag program. But it is also not difficult. To move the paging file, you will need two actions:

Disable current file Podchock
- Create new file Podchock On the second disk

To do this, open the properties of My Computer (you can click Combination "Win + Break" in order not to click on the mouse once again) or click on the "System" icon in the "Control Panel". Select the "Advanced" tab and in the Top Speeder, click the "Parameters" button.

A window will open with the "speed parameters" header, in which you want to select the "Advanced" tab. On this tab at the lowest block "Virtual Memory" you need to click on the "Edit" button.

The window you need, in which we will producetransfer file Podkachock. First we need to remove the available on the system disk file Podchock. To do this, select the system disk (usually C :) and activate the line " Without a paging file»In block" Size file Podkachock For the selected disk. " After that, click "Set".

Then switch to the second disk where you want to transferpaging file And activate it by setting the point in the "Size Size" field in the same block "The size of the paging file for the selected disk". Then click on the "Set" button.

Now it remains to restart the computer to all changes Entered into force. One stage of computer optimization is successfully completed. In the following articles, let's talk about other ways to optimize, follow upgrades.

Location of paging file on a computer with multiple hard drives

If you have several hard drives in your computer (physically, and not one, broken into several sections), it makes sense Windows XP. and her file Podchock Hold on different disks. The speed of work is valid quite noticeable.

Prohibition of unloading drivers and system kernels in paging file in Windows XP

On computers with a very large number of physicalrAM can increase productivity Windows XP., forbid to unload drivers and core systems from physical memory in file Podchock to disk. To do this, in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SYSTEM \\ CURRENTCONLSET \\ CONTROL \\ CURRENTCONROLSET \\ CONTROL \\ CURRENTCONROLSET \\ CONTROL \\ CURRENTCONTROLSET \\ MEMORY MANAGEMENT, assign the DWORD parameter to 1.

That's mostly all about the paging file. Spring work!

The paging file is used in Windows operating systems for those cases when the computer does not have enough RAM. Amend the size of the paging file can be as follows:

1. Open the "Control Panel" through the "Start" menu.

2. If you have a "via category" view in the "control panel", then you need to perform the following actions:

Select the menu item "Productivity and Service"

If you are selected in the "Classic" view panel, you just need to click on the "System" menu item.

3. In the operating window of the system properties, click on "additionally".

4. On the "Advanced" tab, see the "Speed" section, and click on the "Parameters" button.

5. In the "parameters" we select the "Advanced" tab.

6. Now at the bottom is looking for a section "Virtual Memory". There click on the "Edit" button.

7. We will open the window in which in which you can edit the properties of the paging file. The choice is given three items - set the desired size of the paging file (it is possible to set its maximum size and minimal), leave the system the ability to select the sizes of the paging file, and do not use the paging file at all. Therefore, the ideal option will set the size of the paging file manually.

What is the size of the paging file? Basically, it depends on your computer requirements and the format of the tasks being performed. However, for most users there may be the following recommended values:

ATTENTION! Below, the settings are not absolutely correct, and are exceptionally recommendations!

As you can see on the table, with the amount of memory more than 8 GB, the need for the paging file almost disappears.

After you specify the minimum and maximum volume of the paging file, you must click the "Set" button. After you need to click the "OK" button, and restart the computer to apply the new swap file size.

Unscrew the mounting screws located on the rear panel of the PC system unit, remove the lid and place the housing on the side. Look inside the system unit. On the motherboard, find the dies of RAM. Usually there are 1-2 pieces. In order to remove the memory modules, click the clamps on both sides and gently pull them out of the connector.

Watch the memory mark. It is applied either to the module itself, or indicated on the sticker. See what is the volume of the memory dice, and evaluate the ability to expand the number of RAM based on the condition that Windows XP 32 -bit can only see up to 3 GB.

If the extension is required and possibly, purchase additional memory modules. It is recommended to put the dies of RAM of the same brand and volume to avoid conflict of devices.

Install a new set of modules in slots. To do this, the cry must be properly installed in the connector and click until it clicks. Put the lid back and screw the screws.

Increase virtual memory

Initially, the amount of virtual memory is equal to the number of physical memory. To increase the virtual memory you need to right-click the "My Computer" icon and go to the "Properties" section. After that, go to the "Advanced" tab, select "Parameters" - "Speed".

In "Specifications" change "Virtual Memory". This window is used to configure the parameters associated with virtual memory, namely, it is possible to adjust the size of the paging file. Usually, the default is the "Size Size" value. The list contains the size of the paging file for each of the disks.

To increase the size of the paging file, select the "Specific Size" parameter. In the dialog that opens, specify the source (current) file size, and then its maximum volume in the corresponding field. The minimum size should be greater than the amount of RAM installed on the PC physically, 1.5 times, and the maximum - 4 times.

Check the total file volume on all discs. It is also recommended to remove the paging file from the system disk and transfer it to another disk.

To remove the paging file from other disks, you need to select the desired and specify "without paging file". Existing in practice, the experience to delete the paging file uniquely does not answer the question: does the performance increase? Therefore, it is enough just to remove this file from the system disk.

Highlight the logical disk where the paging file will be stored. Apply all changes and restart the PC so that they entered into force.