Beansoup, all, Thanks for the response. I think I'll try the settings. What can they hurt?? JimW

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If you do decide to "play" with the settings, please do not make it as small as in the article! MinFileCache=4096 MaxFileCache=4096 Makes the cache a measly 4MBs in size and in your case with leave you with MEGA bytes of free ram. This is NOT what you want. "What can they hurt"? Performace!

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Hi y'all, In general, if your PC has 16 to 32 megabytes, try 4096. Use 6144 if your PC has more memory. (If your PC has less than 16 megabytes, add memory. In the meantime, use 2048 or 3072.) Here's what the lines look like: [vcache] MinFileCache=4096 MaxFileCache=4096 In my case, I set them at: MinFileCache=6144 MaxFileCache=6144 I have absolutly no problems with performance...Virtual memory, or physical memory.. beansoup

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If you are running with 64MBs or less, setting the cache that low probably has little affect. If you have 128+ installed, try removing the lines and see the difference.

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Any article that says set a max on your swap file worries me - what for? You can, if you so wish, set a min using system.ini which sets aside a block for VM. I monkeyed around with all that stuff way back. My system improved once I went back to the normal Windows arrangements. Derek

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And as an additional btw to the "questionable" advice on that site,.... When you specify a MAX and MIN on the file cache, you are DEDICATING that amount of memory to the cache. Even Windows is not using the file cache, it can not use that memory for any other purpose, and as a result, may be forced to start paging inuse areas to the swapfile.

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WhitPhil Any thoughts (W98) on setting ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 in system.ini? A lot of folks rave about it and I wondered how valid it is. JimW Sorry about this intrusion but it might be of interest. Derek

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Unfortunately, I can't speak from the experience of actually using this option because I still need the swapfile in order to run my apps. The setting reverts Windows 98 back to the way Windows 95 did paging. That is, it waits until it runs out of memory, and then goes through all the exercise of figuring out it's candidates and then actually doing the paging. With the default Windows 98 setting, Windows is a little more proactive and as available memory starts to shrink, Windows starts to get prepared to do some paging. So when the crunch actually comes, you do not see/feel the performance hit. As a result of this latter activity, there is actually swapfile activity, and the swapfile will take on a size (even with huge gobs of ram installed). This has been misinterpretted as meaning Windows is using the swapfile, before it uses ram, which, is utter nonsense. But, with lots of installed ram, and consistent ram available you obviously make little use of the swapfile. In this case, setting the option keeps Windows from essentially wasting it's time, "prepping" the swapfile. Is this noticeable? I personally would be surprised on the fast beasts that are running these days, but, I have seen posts where they say they notice a difference.

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WhitPhil Thanks for the full and detailed reply. Mine's only a PentIII 500 Hz so maybe I'm a candidate (and possibly the poster too). Derek

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Hello Again Derek, Hello WhitPhil, Thanks for the great info. I only have a 350 with 320 Ram. I work on multiple layered images a lot and after a while, can hear the processor working hard to do its thing up to the point of it hanging. My original question was...is there some way to clear the cache manually within windows without re-booting? (maybe with a little bat file Derek???)This is the greatest site and I can't tell you how much I have learned from it although I find, some answers in some posts require a bit of discernment on the part of the reader. Thanks, JimW

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Jim: I doubt if you are "hearing" the processor! The harddrive, perhaps. Is the light on? Windows does a good job of managing the cache, and can reduce it very quickly when it needs ram for a running application. Your issue could be with the size of your graphics, and/or the application you are using. There "could" come a point where the graphic is so large that it is forcing windows into a swapping situation, and what you are hearing is stuff being paged out. You could try placing an upper limit on the cache at, say, 200MBs and see if you notice any difference. MaxFileCache=200000 (NO MinFileCache)

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Hello WhitPhil, Exactly, the hard drive is what I am listening to and yes, the light is on as an additional indication. I use Adobe Photoshop 4 and the files can get large but this also occurs when I download and transfer a number of MP3's. I'll try your suggestion and do some work with the 200Mg cache limit. All very interesting. Thanks, JimW

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Re the bat file/cache idea. As far as I know system.ini is only called during bootup. In which case using a batch file to alter it would do nothing without rebooting anyway. I don't know of any other way to alter the cache. You only have to type system.ini in the Run box to make alterations to it so, much as I like .bat (& .reg) files, there would appear to be nothing to gain from using them in this instance. Maybe someone else knows better........... Derek

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Derek, The bat file thing was kind of lame I guess. I have downloaded "FreeRAM XP Pro 1.40.exe" from download.com I'm not sure if it will do any good for me. I want to try out WhitPhil's cache idea first. On the lighter side, I wish this post was closer to the top, I wonder what the longest running post is? Thanks guys, JimW

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ooo... long way to beat that record. I recall one that went up to about 93 - and what about some bigger one I might have missed? Hate be an old misery but I've never been too convinced about RAM freeing progs because they usually seem to produce more activity elsewhere, therefore achieving little. Again, been there, done that, gave up. I assume you have cleared all the background stuff that you don't need running all the time (see system tray icons next to clock and msconfig from Run box). This, plus clearing TIF's and defragging seem to have done most for me. Have half an idea that ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 made some difference too. Derek

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Jim: Running one of these memory freeing programs will definitely create free memory, BUT it is NOT these programs that are really doing it. It is Windows itself. And, if a real program that is running needs memory, Windows will do the same thing. You may want to run SYSMON and monitor the various aspects of your system. While you are there, AND you are running one of these memory apps, note that as soon as you tell it to "free ram", the first thing windows does is make the File Cache smaller. Then, when the cache is as small as it can be, Windows starts paging memory out to disk. Then, as you start running your programs again, Windows will start paging this memory BACK in because the application really needs it. At the end of the day, the combination of Photoshop and your graphics, along with whatever else is running, is larger than a 320MB footprint. And at some point, Windows gets in a "trashing" situation, as it is paging memory out, that is almost immediately required, and then is paged back in again. As well, some graphics programs have their own "cache" where they keep the graphics image. If Photoshop is like this, then the combination of this cache along with vcache maybe putting you in swapping situation. See if Sysmon tells you anything. Try the 200MB limit. As well, (if Photoshop has it's own cache), you may want to move the file cache down "relatively" low (50MBs) while you are doing graphics work. And, if Sysmon is showing a lot of paging activity and swapfile usage, more ram may be a good solution also.

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An after thought.... You HAVE looked at your startups to make sure that any unnecessary ones are not running?? http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

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WhitPhil: I learn something everytime you respond to a post. Keep it up. And Thank you!

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Derek,WhitPhil, Yes, I have checked my start-ups, msconfig, systray, defrag regularly, have already set the 200 Mg max cache limit, and I even use an eraser on my monitor instead of the delete key! Guys you have spent a lot of time and effort in helping me and I appreciate that a lot. I'll try what you have given me so far and maybe, I'll post to your names in the future and let you know how things are doing. Derek, that "conservativeswapfile=1" has my interest. JimW

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You guys here are great just by reading all the post here I took everybodys suggestion and set my settings to these and WOW I'm blazing with opening pages and programs all because of these settings from the help of all your input so I have to say THANK YOU ALL! Here is what I did to gain the speed. [vcache] MinFileCache=56522 MaxFileCache=56522 ChunkSize=512 ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 My system is a 450MHz Pentium 2 384MB RAM running on Windows98 Average performance is 82% FREE where before was 65% FREE Thanks again, BaddboyDon :)

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