On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:55:12 -0500, MilesAhead
<guest@unknown-email.com> wrote:

>
> How much Ram do you have installed? I have 2 GB Ram and don't run a
> swap file.


It's called the "page" file in Windows XP. Turning it off is a very
bad thing to do, regardless of how much RAM you have. That's for two
reasons:

1. If you don't have a page file, you can't use all the RAM you have.
That's because Windows preallocates virtual memory in anticipation of
a possible need for it, even though that allocated virtual memory may
never be used. Without a page file, that allocation has to be made in
real memory, thus tying up that memory and preventing it from being
used for any purpose.

2. There is never a benefit in not having a page file. If it isn't
needed, it won't be used. Don't confuse allocated memory with used
memory.



> The only time I got a "low memory" error msg was because I
> kept trying to play a bad video file and without realizing it I had 1/2
> dozen copies of VLC Media Player running.
>
> If you must use swap, move it to D:



Assuming that D: is a second partition, that's also bad advice.
Putting the Page File on a second partition is not a good idea, and
can hurt your performance. What it does is move the page file to a
location on the hard drive distant from the other frequently-used data
on the drive. The result is that every time Windows needs to use the
page file, the time to get to it and back from it is increased.

Putting the page file on a second *physical* drive is a good idea,
since it decreases head movement, but not to a second partition on a
single drive. A good rule of thumb is that the page file should be on
the most-used partition of the least-used physical drive. For almost
everyone with a single drive, that's C:.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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