Re: how to Reduce page file usage
- From: "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:50:10 -0700
Dale wrote:
How do I restrict Windows XP from using the page file?
I have 1.5 GB of RAM, and TaskManager tells me there is over 1 GB of
Physical Memory Available.
All my programs take, at most, 1 GB of memory once loaded (including
shared memory for video card). This info comes summary values in
TaskManager; add memory in use (Installed minus Available) plus PF
usage.
This means that I would have half a Gig of spare memory, even if XP
left everything in RAM.
No, it doesn't mean that at all. Wanting to minimize the amount of memory
Windows uses is a counterproductive desire. Windows is designed to use all,
or nearly all, of your memory, all the time, and that's good not bad. Free
memory is wasted memory. You paid for it all and shouldn't want to see any
of it wasted.
Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the time.
For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that part for
caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In this way Windows
keeps all your memory working for you all the time.
Windows keeps dumping stuff into the page file, even though there is
no need (since there is no shortage of memory).
Please don't make the mistake of confusing page file use with page file
allocation. They are not the same thing. Far and away the best piece on the
page file written is this article by the late MVP Alex Nichol: "Virtual
Memory in Windows XP" at http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php I recommend
you read this to better understand how all this works.
To find out how much page you actually use (as opposed to allocate), go to
http://billsway.com/notes%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip to monitor your pagefile usage.
--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup
As a result of this
behaviour, when I go to use a previously loaded program that I have
not switched to for an hour, I have to wait half a minute for it to
load into RAM from the PF. (It is a large program.) Sometimes,
after waiting for 5 minutes, the program still is not ready for use.
Maybe XP is thrashing, or fighting with itself; it loads a page, sees
there is less than 1 GB of available memory, so it flushes another
page that is also needed by the program... ?
What is the point of me waiting, when there is a ton of spare memory?
It should not be flushing ANY RAM to PF in the first place. I see no
value in the computer trying to keep 1 GB of Available memory at all
times.
So I tried using Computer Properties \ Advanced \ Performance \
Settings \ Advanced \ Virtual memory setting to force the page file
down to 256 MB. Yes that's small, but it's not like the computer
needs the extra memory space. I can confirm that C:\pagefile.sys is
268,435,456 bytes. TaskManager still gives PF Usage at over 500 MB
though, and the computer is still making me wait at least 30 seconds
to start using the program again after an hour delay.
Where is Windows dumping the info to disk, since C:\pagefile.sys is
the correct size?
So, how do I force XP to stop being stupid with the pagefile? I want
to force XP to keep ALL programs in physical RAM, since there is no
shortage of it.
Windows says MS recommends against eliminating the swap file
entirely... How important is that?
Dale
.
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