Virtual Memory (paging file in XP)

[FLEX42]

I'm running XP home edition on my laptop with a 1.0GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, and a 20GB hard drive in 2x10GB partitions.. .. .I read conflicting reports about whether or not to enable paging file, and if so on which drive (the one with system files or not).. .. .Does anyone have any experiences or ideas they could share to try and achieve the best from the machine.

[BayAreaLondoner]

I've not read anything specifically about XP, but I would definitely enable the paging file. 256MB RAM just isn't that much when you have a bunch of apps running together with their data.. .Whether you want to let Windows manage the size of the file for you or set it to a certain size yourself is another matter. The reasoning behind setting it to a certain size is that this stops Windows from expending extra CPU time figuring out how large to make the file. The downside is that you permanently lose the disk space allocated to the swap file.. .Concerning which drive to put it on... if you had two physical drives, it makes sense to put it on the one that the system is not installed on. Because you have two logical drives, I still see a benefit in having it separate. Swap files tend to be a cause of disk fragmentation and keeping it on antoher drive or volume means that your system files won't get as fragmented.

[Evo7]

I've had my 1.5Gb P4 box here run out of physical memory before now - although as I was only burning a CD I'm not sure why - so you should always run with a swap file, even if you never expect to use it. BAL's advice is good. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />

[FLEX42]

thanks guys, all appreciated