I have read various things about swap file and size. Exacly what does a swap file do, how large should it be, what happens if it is to small and what benefits do I get by moving it to the second partition on my harddrive(the one that contains my recovery files? that partition only has 952 mg of space available and how do i move it there if it is to my benefit? I curently have 768mgs of ram in my computer. The swap file right now is set at 670-1052 mgs of space set aside. Thanks Ray

Page or swap files aka virtual memory allow a program to use more memory than a system physically has. Windows has a swap file, so do many graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop. By placing a swap file off the system drive onto a second physical disk, you take some of the workload off your main hard drive. I do not know if there is any benefit to moving to another partition on the same disk, and it sounds like you have a lot of memory already. If your system is using it's virtual memory too much, this is often a sign that you need to increase physical RAM to optimize your system's use. To move the page file, go into the virtual memory settings and highlight the volume you want to place a page file on. Set it to the same starting and ending size that the original has, or click the option to let the system manage the file. Then click on the C: drive and click No Paging File. Changes are not effective until the system reboots.

Oh, and read this: http://www.pureperformance.com/js/showtip.asp?id=22

Should I let windows manage my size of swap file? Ray

Depends what you're doing and how much you abuse your page file ^_^ On my machine where I use Adobe Photoshop I have a separate physical disk onto which I placed a fixed size page file (i.e. did not let Windows manage the size) due to the abuse Photoshop puts my system through.

Thanks, I read it and I know what to! Thanks again1 ray

If you move it to the same drive just another partition it works just as much. If you move it to another hard drive you make that one work just as hard. And the last thing you need to happen is the drive with the recovery files to crap out. Most programs use it as a swapper. Best rule of thumb as stated by microsoft (and for once they were right) is to set it to 1.5 times the total ram you have installed. Set the max and min sizes to the same. If you are not sure of what you're doing take it to a shop and tell them what you want. $30.00 well spent means less headaches later...