Pagefile.sys is a windows system file which acts as a virtual memory extension of a computer’s real memory RAM. By default, pagefile.sys is set to the same size as your actual physical memory size and might consume a huge disk space of your computer hard drive space. When physical RAM is fully used and there is need for more memory, information/data not currently being accessed can be ‘swapped’ to that location and thus free physical RAM for immediate use. That same data can be transferred back if need be, into physical RAM at any time.
There are some easy ways to just turn off Paging file generation, but for systems lesser than 512MB RAM, it would mean disaster. hence I do not recommend turning off the Paging file generation. As mentioned before, assuming you have enough hard disk space to spare, you can convert that space to speed and improve the performance of your Windows XP/Vista. You must have guessed it by now. the trick is to increase the size of pagefile.sys, thereby giving your PC more virtual memory to use.
Here’s how to increase the size of pagefile.sys
1. Know the size of the RAM installed on your computer by right clicking on My Computer and choosing Properties.
2. Go to Control Panel and run System.
3. Click on Advanced tab and click the Settings button on Performance.
3. Click on Advanced tab again and click on the Change button.
4. Select “Custom Size”. Give the Initial size and Maximum size as 1.5 times your RAM size.
5. Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
I am sure many geeks would be aware of this, but all n00bs and non-geeks – Enjoy your Faster Windows!!
beware of the 1.5 times. 2 times is the max. after that you will have slower responses rather than faster…
Very True!! Thanks for the warning
LOL!
I have seen some people on forums suggesting Virtual to be 2.5 times the RAM
Good tip. This actually makes a significant performance improvement. I did this a while back to my comp.
@Velvet Blues
Thanks for vouching for the effectiveness of this tip
Thanks for the tip. I’ve updated my settings. Hopefully things will run a bit faster. (It was set at 768 but I have 2.5 GB of RAM.)
Hi Jason,
cheers!!
Please observe for a couple of days and let me know if it worked
Nice tweak to increase windows speed
so if my ram is 2gb it should be 3gb 4 each inital and max?
@goofy,
Yeah right
It’s been about a month now and this didn’t seem to make much of an impact. I really think my computer should be running faster. I wonder if 2.5 GB of RAM is enough for what I’m doing (Chrome, MS Outlook, MS Project, Excel, and Digsby all running simultaneously).
First of all I must thank you for revisiting the post. I wish we have more data to conclude here. I wonder if there is some limit (or range) for RAM size for this trick to work or it doesn’t work at all. data insufficiency error
hi i have try it and increase my virtual memory 1.5 time but i didnt find any change .can you tell me why there is no change i have 2GB ram
thank you
Non-geeks will surely enjoy your tip. As for me, I agree with stratosg that going for 2.5 times may give slower responses rather than making the system faster.