No matter how much main memory your system boasts, Windows 7 still creates and uses a page file for virtual memory. To maximize page file performance, you should make sure that Windows 7 is working optimally with the page file. The next few sections present some techniques that help you do just that.
Storing the Page File Optimally
The location of the page file can have a major impact on its performance. There are three things you should consider:
See "Changing the Paging File's Location and Size," later in this chapter, for the information about moving the page file.
This chapter excerpt on Tuning Windows 7's Performance (download PDF) is taken from the book Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed. This book goes deep into Windows 7 and covers everything from security settings to startup optimization and networking. Author Paul McFedries introduces new styles and techniques to maximize your Windows 7 performance.
Splitting the Page File
If you have two or more physical drives (not just two or more partitions on a single physical drive), splitting the page file over each drive can improve performance because it means that Windows 7 can extract data from each drive's page file simultaneously. For example, if your current initial page file size is 384MB, you'd set up a page file on a drive with a 192MB initial size, and another page file on a second drive with a 192MB initial size.
See "Changing the Paging File's Location and Size" to learn how to split the page file.
Customizing the Page File Size
By default, Windows 7 sets the initial size of the page file to 1.5 times the amount of RAM in your system, and it sets the maximum size of the page file to 3 times the amount of RAM. For example, on a system with 1GB RAM, the page file's initial size will be 1.5GB and its maximum size will be 3GB. The default values work well on most systems, but you might want to customize these sizes to suit your own configuration. Here are some notes about custom page file sizes:
See "Changing the Paging File's Location and Size" to learn how to customize the page file size.
Watching the Page File Size
Monitor the page file performance to get a feel for how it works under normal conditions, where normal means while running your usual collection of applications and your usual number of open windows and documents.
Start up all the programs you normally use (and perhaps a few extra, for good measure) and then watch Performance Monitor's ProcessPage File Bytes and ProcessPage File Bytes Peak counters.
Paul McFedries is the president of Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company, and has been writing computer books since 1991. McFedries is the author or coauthor of more than 60 books that have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. He is also the proprietor of Wordspy.com, a website described as "the word lover's guide to new words," which tracks new words that become part of the English language.
Changing the Paging File's Location and Size
The page file is named Pagefile.sys and it's stored in the root folder of the %SystemDrive%. Here's how to change the hard disk that Windows 7 uses to store the page file as well as the page file sizes:
NOTE
The Pagefile.sys file is a hidden system file. To see it, open any folder window and select
Organize, Folder and Search Options. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab, activate
the Show Hidden Files and Folders option, and deactivate the Hide Protected Operating System Files
check box. When Windows 7 asks you to confirm the display of protected operating system files,
click Yes, and then click OK.
FIGURE 6.8 Use the Virtual Memory dialog box to select a different hard disk to store the page file.
TIP
If you want to move the page file to another drive, first select the original drive and then
activate the No Paging File option to remove the page file from that drive. Select the other drive
and choose either Custom Size or System Managed Size to add a new page file to that drive.
TIP
If you want to split the page file over a second drive, leave the original drive as is, select the
second drive, and choose either Custom Size or System Managed Size to create a second page file on
that drive.
Exit all the dialog boxes. If you changed the drive or decreased either the initial size or the maximum size, you need to restart your computer to put the changes into effect.
Printed with permission from Sams Publishing. Copyright 2009. Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed by Paul McFedries. For more information about this title and other similar books, please visit www.pearson.com.
10 Sep 2009