virtual memory in xp

lipiozzywife

lipiozzywife

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here a good question to get peoples minds working


virtual memory has diable it self from harddrive page files has been put up but the swape files doesn't seem to be working, its been showing that 98% of virtual memory is being used, even when seting are changed and computer shuts down it doesn't always show virtual memory enble can someone tell me how to find out what can be done please and thank you
 
not sure whether i've had one to many beers but that doesn't a whole lot of sense.

First of "Virtual Memory" and "Page File" are the same thing.

Assuming your using Windows XP, go to the control panel and open system, click advanced then performance options then advanced, click change. Take a screen shot and post it here. then open task manager, select the performance tab and take another screen grab.

Are you receiving error messages regarding virtual memory or have you just noticed that 98% is in use? if so where have you seen that 98% is in use?

J
 
Techy said:
not sure whether i've had one to many beers but that doesn't a whole lot of sense.

First of "Virtual Memory" and "Page File" are the same thing.

Assuming your using Windows XP, go to the control panel and open system, click advanced then performance options then advanced, click change. Take a screen shot and post it here. then open task manager, select the performance tab and take another screen grab.

Are you receiving error messages regarding virtual memory or have you just noticed that 98% is in use? if so where have you seen that 98% is in use?

J
Click to expand...

....er...yeah, i think i must have had one too many even for me (and I consume a lot)...the message is a little garbled.

Follow techy's advice, but also make sure your swap file (also known as page file) is not on your main system drive if possible. If you have a single drive, create a partition just for the swap file, and if you have more than two, create a partition on one of the drives that your system file isn't on.

Also, make sure your swap file is no more than 2.5 times your RAM (i.e. if you have 512MB RAM, make sure your swap file is no more than 1280MB (2.5x512)

(Techy...that make sense m8 or am I talkin bollix m8 - only I've had a few tonight:D)
 
The calculations are a bit iffy ;)

I think your making this more complicated than necessary. it's true that placing your page file onto a separate hard disk increases performance. but that is irrelant at this stage.

According to Microsoft a Page file should be 1.5x Physical RAM, i have never had an issue with this configuration. So i have no reason to question it.

J

Now, where's bottle of Grolsch gone ???
 
2.5 times the Ram was applicable to earlier Windows 98, with XP 1.5 times is good enough. What is also interesting is that if the min and max size is same the file does not get fragmented due to dynamic expansion which is common to all windows. I always use a fixed file size.

My laptop has 512 mb memory and the page file size min 768 and max 768.
 
Quadophile said:
2.5 times the Ram was applicable to earlier Windows 98, with XP 1.5 times is good enough. What is also interesting is that if the min and max size is same the file does not get fragmented due to dynamic expansion which is common to all windows. I always use a fixed file size.

My laptop has 512 mb memory and the page file size min 768 and max 768.
Click to expand...

You may well be right there my friend:thumb: However, I have 2Gb of RAM and based on a few friends with similar setups I went with 2.5 times...so i have a 5GB swap file...I'm sure i could do perfectly well with less (In fact I'm sure I don't need all that memory in the first place...but hey, I just like to know it's there:cool::D)
 
Quadophile said:
2.5 times the Ram was applicable to earlier Windows 98, with XP 1.5 times is good enough. What is also interesting is that if the min and max size is same the file does not get fragmented due to dynamic expansion which is common to all windows. I always use a fixed file size.

My laptop has 512 mb memory and the page file size min 768 and max 768.
Click to expand...
Cheers Quad for that. I never knew that using fixed size page file prevented fragmentation of it. When defragging my drive I always used to disable my VM, restart, defrag, re-enable VM, and restart again, as the page file was all over the drive.
I will change my VM settings now. :)
 
Always Let Windows Handle It

stadwood said:
my pc virtual memory is too low how do you put it up
Click to expand...
Download "Everest Home Edition" it will give you all the information we need

Failing that ...

Run a virus check

Scan for spyware

Increase memory by buying more

Get a bigger hard drive

:thumb:
 
um i dont want to sound stupid but where is pagefile on everest :/

also as much as i hate to admit it, while i have always been aware of virtual memory, and increasing it makes the system better, i odnt know wtf it does :(
 
stadwood, is having problems relating to us what system he has ... Everest will help him.

Anybody who attempts to do a better job than XP with their 'swap file' is just wasting their time ... let XP handle the swap file, it will do the job amicably ... it aint win98.

The original question by Stadwood ... my pc virtual memory is too low how do you put it up ... cannot be answered correctly with out some idea at to what system he has, how much memory it has, what programs are running, is some nastie using all the ram for itself ... without that we wait.

;)
 
In a nutshell “virtual memory” or the “swap file” … same thing … is what Windows will use if it runs short of RAM

If you have enough RAM, XP will not use a swap file … 512 is fine for most people on a Home PC … 1024 (1gig) is more than enough.

Messing about on a slow hard drive (all HD are slow compaired to RAM) to increase 'performance' is just wishfull thinking. :thumb:
 
If you have enough RAM, XP will not use a swap file … 512 is fine for most people on a Home PC … 1024 (1gig) is more than enough.
Click to expand...


Technically incorrect, sorry mucks.

Windows will always make use of the page file whether or not it has spare RAM.

I'll dig out a KB article on this just to clear it up.
 
As promised.


In modern operating systems, including Windows, application programs and many system processes always reference memory using virtual memory addresses which are automatically translated to real (RAM) addresses by the hardware. Only core parts of the operating system kernel bypass this address translation and use real memory addresses directly.

Virtual Memory is always in use, even when the memory required by all running processes does not exceed the amount of RAM installed on the system.
Click to expand...

MS KB 555223
 
you been dieing to catch me out for weeks

I stand corrected ... :p

As I always say, you learn simit new every day.

But I'll stand by what I usually say ... messing about with the 'swap file' or 'virtual memory', whatever you like to call it, is just a waist of time for the average user.

Let Windows handle it, on 90% of home systems you aint going to get better.
;)
 
Techy said:
since december 2003 ;)
Click to expand...
Mate, you can watch my back anytime ... I don't know it all and never will ... keep it up and we'll help everybody in the same boat.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
 
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