Windows XP - Conserving Swapfile Usage

[Matt84]

How do I achieve this under XP in a similar manner to 98. Is it worth it with 1GB RAM

 

[laserburn]

The same as win98. Only it is now called page file. 1 GB is maybe too much, but if you got room, why not.

 

[spclwpns]

There is no such 'animal' (ConservativeSwapfileUsage) in xp. '98 & xp are VERY differant in the way they allocate memory/virtual memory, read some tweak guides about xp before doing anything.....

 

[stevewm]

90% of all "Tweaks" in those so called tweak guides for 2k and XP are absolutely absurd.

Most of the registry settings they tell you to change the OS does not even look at them any more. And some where never a valid setting in the first place!

The few that do actually work will actually DEGRADE your performance in many cases. One such example is LargeSystemCache. This entry is only enabled in Server OSes and for good reason. It only benefits tasks that would run on a server, in general desktop use it will cause problems. Yet many people continue to blindly follow advice in these "tweak" guides and enable it.

Do not apply anything you do in 9x to Windows 2000 and XP. Both OSes are already tweaked enough. Both OSes have a modern memory management system, light years beyond 9x. Leave it alone and let the OS do its job.

The only "tweaking" you need to do is keep a eye on background processes such as SpyWare. Download SpyBot or Adaware and run them every now and then. Check MSCONFIG's Startup tab. You can disable Services but it provides really no benefit, unused services use no resources at all. And please do not disable your page file. The OS needs it, even with 1GB of RAM. And leave it at the OS defaults, the OS picks the correct size based on the amount of RAM you have.

 

[dunkster]

MS KB articles 308417 and 314482 provide good reading for those interested in MS advice regarding paging file(s).

Probably not as valid a 'friend's advice', but interesting.

Hope this helps!

 

[Matt84]

I'll just leave it as is for XP.