Question about pagefile.sys

letsdoamazing · 26 Jul 2010

Do I need that in windows 7? I understand its a virtual memory kind of thing, but is it always needed?

pparks1 · 26 Jul 2010

Always needed???? No
Do I ever turn mine off...even with 8GB of RAM???? No

Dzomlija · 26 Jul 2010

I think pparks1 has put it quite nicely.

The pagefile isn't always needed, and it's almost guaranteed to severly impact your performance in a negative way should you disable it...

A Guy · 27 Jul 2010

All the educated opinions say leave it be, and set to system managed. It's got more to do than with how much physical memory you have. A Guy

Delphin · 27 Jul 2010

Have a look at this link

Page file, memory, and other stuffs

.

I have 8 gig ram and my page file size 10 Gb configured in D Drive..

As far as i know, Pagefile is used whenever your computer requires memory more than your ram :)

Turning it off is not advised

Bill2 · 27 Jul 2010

Let the pagefile be, at the system-managed size. Because:

1) Some apps simply won't run properly if the pagefile is disabled. AFAIK, you'll have problems running a virtual machine on a box with no pagefile, and some defrag utilities will also fail.

2) Most apps request much more memory than they'll ever use. So WMP might suddenly request 300 MB. In this scenario, 4GB becomes very small particularly if you're trying to play a game and maybe also have have itunes running in the background. A program like Photoshop may request for a gb or more of RAM at a time.

3) Most importantly, memory dumps (crash reports from BSODs, etc) will not get generated, if the page file is disabled.

Jonathan_King · 27 Jul 2010

Bill is correct. The page file should be set at 3x installed RAM, or better yet, system managed.

DeaconFrost · 27 Jul 2010

I'm always at a loss when this question is asked. At a loss for why someone would want to disable it, and what they hope that would achieve. Even in Windows XP, disabling it gave you nothing more than a placebo effect. Windows 7 isn't XP, however, and shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as XP in terms of "tweaking".

There's nothing to gain by disabling it, aside from an unstable system. Leave it be, and let the system manage it.

letsdoamazing · 27 Jul 2010

DeaconFrost said:

I'm always at a loss when this question is asked. At a loss for why someone would want to disable it, and what they hope that would achieve. Even in Windows XP, disabling it gave you nothing more than a placebo effect. Windows 7 isn't XP, however, and shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as XP in terms of "tweaking".

There's nothing to gain by disabling it, aside from an unstable system. Leave it be, and let the system manage it.

You shouldn't be at a loss, it was a question. I didn't know what it was for and why it takes up a large chunk of room. It was a question, and that is what I thought this forum was for.

Jonathan_King · 27 Jul 2010

letsdoamazing said:

DeaconFrost said:

I'm always at a loss when this question is asked. At a loss for why someone would want to disable it, and what they hope that would achieve. Even in Windows XP, disabling it gave you nothing more than a placebo effect. Windows 7 isn't XP, however, and shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as XP in terms of "tweaking".

There's nothing to gain by disabling it, aside from an unstable system. Leave it be, and let the system manage it.

You shouldn't be at a loss, it was a question. I didn't know what it was for and why it takes up a large chunk of room. It was a question, and that is what I thought this forum was for.

Yep, very true. You did the right thing by asking...too many people would go ahead and disable it without asking first.