I have 1 gig of ram. Someone told me that I don't need any paging file and someone told me I need three times as much as my ram. Can someone tell me what would be best for my computer. I have one 80 gig hard drive (Primary) and one 120gig hd(backup). How much paging file do I need if any??? Thanks. jablonskia@gmail.com

Let windows manage the pagefile, that is what has worked the best for me. I agree; computing.net does need an edit button.

Let Windows manage it. Its 1.5 times RAM. RAM, Virtual Memory, Pagefile and all that stuff Com puter Speed and Performance May Decrease When you open, then close programs, programs may not free up RAM memory. That is called "Memory Leak". HOW TO: Set Performance Options in Windows XP How to Configure Paging Files for Optimization and Recovery in Windows XP How to Clear the Windows Paging File at Shutdown How To Move the Paging File in Windows XP

Copied from: http://computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/140765.html which was posted by myself. "Paging for some applications is a requirement." Is correct. Mine with 1GB of RAM is using 1533mb for the System managed pagefile but I have 59GB available as free space. So, I don't care whatsoever about the size of the pagefile. Unused space versus wasted space? They are basically one in the same. If yours has so little hard drive free space available that you are worried about the amount that is wasted by the pagefile then it is time to get an additional or larger hard drive. The following will be wasted space on this forum board. An anaolgy: I am planning a trip of a total of 12 miles. I have a full tank of gasoline. Should I empty out over 90% thinking it is wasted space of my fuel tank? Of course not. Like the pagefile I only used 3.5% of the available allocation of 14 gallons. I am not using it now and the space it is taking (being unused) is not wasted; it's utilized. So, in a way, being that my pagefile is utilizing 1553MB of my available 59GB then in reality the space it occupies is using the free space instead of wasting it as unused free space. On the same thought. Since I am not using 59GB should I not replace this 80GB hard drive with a 40GB hard drive to avoid wasting space? I'll still have ample available (19GB). It all comes back to how much space you have and/or need along with the concept that unused space is more of a waste than utilized space. If you are using that pagefile then it is time to get more RAM. Bryan

And if you have more than 1 drive. Windows XP has code built-in which will stripe the swap file across two drives when you assign sizes to more than one partition. In order to take advantage of this, you need to have two or more hard drives in your system and place the swap file across the two separate drives, not simply two separate partitions on the same drive. Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance / Settings. Hit the Advanced tab and go down to the virtual memory section and hit Change. Choose your first partition where you want the swap file, then select Custom Size and enter the size you want. If you set the initial size and max size to the same value, the swap will not be resized on the fly and can lead to better performance. Then choose another partition on a separate drive and do the same. Windows will then split the swap file among the two drives. Try to avoid having a paging file on the same drive as the system files. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417 To improve security. Clear virtual memory on shutdown. http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-27.htm Windows does not normally clear or recreate the page file. On a heavily used system this can be both a security threat and performance drop. Enabling this setting will cause Windows to clear the page file whenever the system is shutdown. This also means shutdown will be slower. Classic View Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Category View Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Scroll down to "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile". Right click and select properties then click "Enabled".

Heavy technical stuff but in a nutshell, with 1gb of ram, you'll probably not notice any difference between having a swap file or not although it might be more apparent when using intensive graphic applications. If you do choose to have a swap file put it on the secondary 120gb drive.

Thanks everyone. jablonskia@gmail.com