Page file turned off, now constant Google Chrome crashing

I recently set up a new ASUS laptop (admittedly low end, needed something immediately) with a dual boot of Windows 7 and Ubuntu with a separate data partition. I set the Windows partition at 30GB figuring that would be enough for my uses. Soon after I noticed I was critically low on space on that partition. I checked with WinDirStat and discovered I had a 3.6 GB page file, despite having 4GB of RAM (I have an extra 1 or 2GB module around here somewhere that I plan on adding as soon as I can).

I did some googling and read that I'd likely be ok without the page file, especially since it was so much slower. However, ever since then, it seems Chrome constantly flips out.

What gives? I might have two windows open with maybe 5 to 10 tabs each, so somewhere in the teens for open tabs. I diddn't think this would be much of an issue, but it's pretty intolerable. I get frozen pages, forced closing/killing, unresponsive Flash (such awful software), etc.

Do I really need to restart the page file? How does that make things better if it's reading/writing to the hard disk which is inherently slower?

Ideas, suggestions, advice, insight welcomed, thanks.

- sps

Forgot to add the system details (attached image)

Windows 7 utilizes the page file, superfetch, prefetch, standby memory, etc in a different way than in previous operating systems. They all interact to some degree or another. Turning things off in Window 7 very often breaks something. Rather than disabling the page file, I'd try using a lesser amount, Perhaps setting it for a max of 2GB would be a good compromise.

This article probably has more info than you need but it may help to explain how the page file works in Windows 7. And as the author says, the only way to know if you can run your computer without a page file is to try it.

The Windows 7 Pagefile And Running Without One » TweakHound

IMHO a 30GB partition is too small for Windows7 and Programs.

Adding more than 4GB memory to Windows 32 Bit will not help.

Re-enable your pagefile and set the minimum to 1 or 2 GB, whatever you can afford for space right now.
Some programs depend on a pagefile, see if re-enabling it helps for now.

If you have Hibernate enabled, you can disable that and regain apx 3GB on the C: partition.