this site is so cool..thanks for all the help people...the qiestion is. when i open up the task manager on the performance tab it says in using 735 mb. it used to say like 120...why the change and what does it mean??? my computers been running pretty slow..lots of hang ups and lagg..thanks for the help.

Try this just on a tempory basis: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314834&Product=winxp This should clear your pagefile, and should boot faster. After using, change back since it REALLY slows down your shutdown!!!!

todd-b: There's a small freeware program available called PageDefrag which can, as the name implies, defrag your page file every time you boot or reboot. LINK Scroll down the webpage until you find PageDefrag, then click on the name. Solarian

Credit to Hooner for the tip on that handy utility.

That is interesting.... ...mine seems to go back to its 'normal' 130 Mb whenever I re-boot anyway? Lesley

Sorry but pagefile defrag and clearing pagefile are NOT the same thing. Please read M$ KB 314834! Defrag of the pagefile has little or no effect on the usage of the pagefile memory or a slow system due to memory usage. Clearing the page file will erase what's held in virtual memory (pafefile) and make it available again. This will speed up a system that is using too much virtual memory. And FYI, programs that are using pagefile are NOT erased upon shutdown. Portions of every program you use stay in VM so it will load faster next time you use the program. The old method to solve this was to change pagefile to Zero, reboot and recreate the pagefile again. Thus starting with a blank pagefile. Microsoft solved this by including the registry entry mentioned in KB314834(XP) & KB182086 (W2K).

Also if you clear the pagefile at shutdown and you still have the problem you need to run an antivirus scan and check for spyware.