Virtual Memory on Windows Xp

Dempsey · 07-03-2003 8:39pm #1

I was looking at my Virtual Memory on Windows Xp. Its set to "Custom Size, Intitial Size 768 and maximum size is 1536". I didnt set this, Dell must of.
I was wondering is there any way to improve system performance, I have 512 RD RAM and I have programs that use scratch disks but no program by itself uses more than 512 of ram, could I disable virtual memory?

PiE · 07-03-2003 9:35pm

I wouldn't recommend disabling it completely, unless you're desperately low on space. Just let Windows manage it automatically.

Dempsey · 07-03-2003 9:44pm

Why would Dell set it at custom? Did anyone else notice this when they bought there PC off them, say in the last year or so (i.e. shipped with windows Xp), cause I know i didn't set it.

spongebob · 07-03-2003 11:26pm

ierk trojan runs VMM , check it out

Dempsey · 07-03-2003 11:37pm

My virus scanner reports nothing, explain a bit more

irishguy · 07-03-2003 11:48pm

you should set the max and min to 768mb [which is 1.5 ur ram size this is optium]and if you have more than one drive put some on each

Dempsey · 08-03-2003 5:32pm

Irishguy, I have only one disk in that machine. Those setting you mentioned are what its at, You're saying that I should leave it as it is?

irishguy · 08-03-2003 7:57pm

no i said put the MIN and the MAX at 768mb

jd · 08-03-2003 8:00pm

Originally posted by irishguy
you should set the max and min to 768mb [which is 1.5 ur ram size this is optium]and if you have more than one drive put some on each

No you shouldn't.(heads hopping all over the place)
Try and dedicate one drive to your swap-no fragmentation
If you have a second "physical" hard drive use that.

Barry Aldwell · 09-03-2003 12:27am

Originally posted by dempseyt
Why would Dell set it at custom? Did anyone else notice this when they bought there PC off them, say in the last year or so (i.e. shipped with windows Xp), cause I know i didn't set it.

I just checked, my Dell (bought in November) has the exact same settings. I didn't change it, and nobody else who uses the PC even knows what Virtual Memory is. Maybe Dell thinks it knows better than it's customers? I don't really care about the swap file size (120gb HD

) and I doubt that I'll need to actually use it this side of 2004 (512mb RAM

) so I'll just leave it as it is.

Dempsey · 09-03-2003 12:33am

Well I'd rather "force" Xp to use RAM where possible rather than go for virtual memory. I have 120Gb as well and its them wd caviars but using the ram would be better cause I have about 128Mb that rarely used

uch · 11-03-2003 10:36pm

OS will only use paged memory when it runs out of ram, leave well enough alone if you disable pagefile pc will crash every time you run out of memory, if you think you don't need it check out task manager,performance tab and see how much memory is paged, I would be very surprised if you aren't using at least 200MB of paged memory.

Pimp Ninja · 12-03-2003 9:39pm

Originally posted by Barry Aldwell
I just checked, my Dell (bought in November) has the exact same settings. I didn't change it, and nobody else who uses the PC even knows what Virtual Memory is. Maybe Dell thinks it knows better than it's customers? I don't really care about the swap file size (120gb HD ) and I doubt that I'll need to actually use it this side of 2004 (512mb RAM ) so I'll just leave it as it is.

Just checked mine, bought last month...
Custom size set there alright.
Inital Size 384mb
Maximum Size 768mb

Its a laptop, and nobody else really uses it, so I am pretty certain that nobody has set this. I havent noticed any performance problems, and I'm not stuck for the space, so I havent bothered to do anything to change it.

If It aint broke... etc...

Virtual Memory on Windows Xp

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