Virtual Memory ... worth to modify ?

[Zak33]

my £0.02

Because pagefile is built in, and some games use it, I have one. BUT I keep my hard drive free of fragmentation by:

Setting the MINIMUM pagefile size to the same as my system ram
Setting the MAX page file to the same

Then I defrag, so it's all in one place, then I reset the maximum size to double.

I chose those figures purely by my own immeasurable brain power... and fluke.

HOWEVER, I believe in having SOME SORT OF MINIMUM pagefile, from the very first moment of a Windows install BECAUSE then I defrag immediately, which places this minimum size of pagefile in ONE PLACE, and then, as I install other stuff, patches, updates, apps etc on the same drive, they dont get fragmented.

IF you have a small, varying size pagefile, it keeps canging size, which in turn takes up randon spaces on the hard drive, and then other stuff is installed AROUND these lumps taken space.

When you next reboot, you'll find the pagefile has shrunk, and your new installed software is abandones, miles away from the next piece of software.... then you install some new stuff, and the pagefile grows again, and this time it's somewhere else too....

fragmetation hell.

Set the pagefile to your chosen size, on DAY one, then defrag before you install ANYTHING...

and for years to come, your hard drive will be very organised with low fragmentation, which in turn keeps it faster

[Bugbait]

I've been running without a pagefile for years without issue, however I always ensure I have a generous amount of RAM for my needs (usually 25% above the peak artificial usage, ie. I artificially load the system with more applications than I would normally expect to use). Only on extremely rare occasions, not even once a year will I run into memory issues and then it's always resolved by increasing the RAM.

If you disable your pagefile, it's a good idea resize it to the smallest possible (16Meg) and reboot before turning it off. Not a big deal but if you simply turn it off it retains the existing pagefile on the HDD.

Performance? I find switching between applications near instant and multi-tab web browsing to be a snap. Not to mention the whine of the Raptor HDD isn't heard as much after initial boot up.

[Cov]

Interesting article from March 8th 2009

Windows Vista 64-bit computing

By the way, have changed to NO PAGING FILE (switched virtual memory off) and according to everest, my RAM usage has since then risen from approx 25/35% to approx 65/75%.
Looks like finally my RAM has been assigned a purpose to and having switched off the indexing service, my HDD was already much calmer. But turning paging file off ... I can hardly hear my hard drive working, cool.