Optimizing Win98 Swap File

[RZetlin]

I have a 800MB swap file that seems to be taking up a lot of hard drive space.

With 256 MB of RAM, what is the best settings to set for my virtual memory (Min. & Max.) so that the swap file is smaller, but still have good performance on my computer?

[wolfmaster]

Umm try reducting to 500mb cos thats the most you need on games and other progs

[Demigod]

It's generally recommended that your swap file be 2x your physical RAM size. 512 MB max and 256 MB min should do just fine. Alternatively you can just have Windows manage your swap file. Windows will increase and decrease the file as needed.

[Iran]

Set it to 512mb like demi said and then defrag your drive, use speedisk from norton for fast defrag

[Galway no Sora]

800MB Swap? Do you get it by default or you change it? If by defaul, then how much HDD space you have?

I use 98SE and 512MB RAM, Swap File = 1024K. Yes, 1MB only . I really want to disable it, but some games require Swap File, so I enabled it for 1MB

[RZetlin]

Originally Posted by Galway no Sora

800MB Swap? Do you get it by default or you change it? If by defaul, then how much HDD space you have?

I use 98SE and 512MB RAM, Swap File = 1024K. Yes, 1MB only . I really want to disable it, but some games require Swap File, so I enabled it for 1MB

I have a 6 GB partition, but I used up about 4 GB before the change in virtual memory.

Yes, Windows gave me the 800 MB swap file by default.

[GSDragoon]

If you want to optimize it set it to 0, then restart. Now, change it to what ever you want it to be set at. It works better when you set the min and max to be the same so it doesn't grow and become fragmented. When you restart, the pagefile will be in 1 "piece."

[Kane]

Originally Posted by GSDragoon

If you want to optimize it set it to 0, then restart. Now, change it to what ever you want it to be set at. It works better when you set the min and max to be the same so it doesn't grow and become fragmented. When you restart, the pagefile will be in 1 "piece."

That's actualy a load of tripe. If you set it to a specific size it will actualy decrease performance. It needs to be able to grow or shrink.

[Demigod]

Heh, I've actually heard the opposite.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by Demigod

Heh, I've actually heard the opposite.

And I've actualy found this to be true in practice, as it means Windows keeps sending stuff to the swap file to keep it at the size you have specified.

[serbius3]

First off, never completely disable your swap file, or even set it to such a small value. The swap file is an intrinsic part of Windows & it will have certain instabilities if you disable it completely.

If you really want to try & make windows be more "intelligent" about its swap file usage, do this:

1) Open your system.ini file
This can be done by going to Start | Run Program
Type in "sysedit.exe" & hit Enter
Find the "system.ini" panel in the progam that opens

2) Find the line that says "[386Enh]"

3) Add a new line below it (place your cursor at the end of the line & press enter) that reads as follows:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

4) Hit the "X" button to close the application (tell it "Yes" to save) & restart windows.

This will prevent Windows from creating an unnescessarily large swap file.

If you want to crank a little more performance, here's another trick you can use. Grab a copy of Partition Magic, or some other program that will allow you to create a new partition without formatting your drive, & create a secondary partition on one of your harddrives. Using a drive other than the one Windows is installed on will give you the best performance, but if you've only got one drive, that drive will work. I would recommend creating a 500 meg partition (2x your RAM), but you can go a little smaller if you really want to.

Once you've created the partition, change your Windows Virtual Memory settings to use a fixed Page File in the drive letter assigned to that new partition & set both the min & max size to whatever size you made your partition. Once you've got it set, you need to reboot the machine.

Now your Page File will *never* become fragmented, because nothing will be written to that partition but the page file. Do this on a secondary hard drive & you'll see an even better performance boost. If you're still having problems, Win2K/XP actually has even more tweaks that can be setup, including forceing Windows not to page any system critical DLL files & destroying & recreating the Page File everytime you shutdown & startup.

If you don't understand some part of my instructions, just let me know & I'll try & explain better.

[Kane]

Once you've created the partition, change your Windows Virtual Memory settings to use a fixed Page File in the drive letter assigned to that new partition & set both the min & max size to whatever size you made your partition. Once you've got it set, you need to reboot the machine.

As I explained just above, this is a common misconception. Don't have a fixed swap file size. Allow it to grow and shink. The rest of your advice is valid tho.

[Viperx25]

Originally Posted by Lord Kane

As I explained just above, this is a common misconception. Don't have a fixed swap file size. Allow it to grow and shink. The rest of your advice is valid tho.

Actually, your take on this is a misconception. widnows does not need to constantly fill the swap file to keep the size, the swap file is just that, a file that, if you set it at a specific size, it simply is that size. It is also proven that this increases performance. this document is a little old but reputable and it explains swap file optimization in detail:


http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed...ization_01.htm

[Kane]

I found a similar article that says the opposite. I shall see if I can dig it up.
edit: reading through your article, it shows the reason for having a set swap size is fragmentation. That's not an issue if it's on a seperate partition.

[Viperx25]

well, i guess it really depends on your personal experience. I have, for as long as i've owned and worked on comps with windows OS"s, set fixed swap files and enjoyed the performance boost that results. Results may vary apparently . There are probably many factors that contribute to this including but not limited to HD speed, access time and such so there probably ins't a right answer heh.

Edit:

Just saw your edit heh... yes but that doesn't mean that setting a fixed
swap file is a bad thing. In my experience, especially on older machines which we still have a few of around here like old P2's and some P1's heh, they greatly benefit from not having to manage the swapfile because the CPU load to increase the swap on older machines affects the performance of apps.

[Galway no Sora]

Originally Posted by serbius3

First off, never completely disable your swap file, or even set it to such a small value. The swap file is an intrinsic part of Windows & it will have certain instabilities if you disable it completely.

I have no complaint about zero swap files, except for FFVIII PC that require small swapfiles. And also the same with 1MB swap. Still, it is stable in my PC. And I think what Viperx25 said is true, different comp means different results.

[GSDragoon]

I said to set it to 0 to remove the current one so it would later create the new swap file as 1 fragment.

[n_w95482]

Well I used Diskeeper to check the swap file size & locations and this is what I got (this is my mom's comp). I was wondering what I should set the swap file size to if I should change it at all. Everyone here says that you should set it to 2x the size of your ram, but I think that may be a little small for this comp (p1 200 mhz, 64 mb ram). I was going to try setting the swap file to 0 then changing it back so it will be 1 big file instead of lots of small ones but I don't think I should try running windows without a swap file and this amount of memory.

Note about pic: In the lower right corner is the system monitor program. It shows the processor usage as 78% while it is at idle. I tried closing down unnecessary programs and rebooting windows, but it doesn't fix it. When I reboot windows, it shows it at a normal 0-4% but as soon as I move the mouse, it jumps up to about 35-40% and stays at that level. After a while it goes up to 70-80%. I scanned the comp for viruses earlier when it was having the problem and it didn't find any. Does anyone know why the comp is doing this? I will try doing a defrag in a while to see if it helps at all.

edit: the yellow sections in the diskeeper window are the swap file parts.

[Viperx25]

I've generally heard and followed the idea that the swapfile should be 1.5x your RAM but it doen't really matter. On older machines, i generally default to 500MB, thats enough with room to spare for windows to run comfortably and isn't too bad on a smaller HD.

[serbius3]

If you're running Windows NT/2K/XP and you want to improve your swap file performance without creating a seperate partition, download the txt file attached to this post, change the extension to "reg" (without quotes) & double-click. A Window will then pop-up asking if you want to add the information to your registry. Click "yes". You can then delete the file. You need to reboot for the change to take effect.

Since this can be a somewhat dangerous subject (add/changing reg keys), I welcome anyone here to download & check my file to attest that it does nothing harmfull. You can open the txt file with notepad. This file will change/modify the following key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=DOWRD:00000001

Remember: This only works if you're running NT, 2K, or XP.