swapfile.sys

so recently installed Rainmeter and one of the skins shows system RAM usage and SWAP usage (i know with rainmeter it wouldn't be 100% accurate but it's an indication), and to my surprise my ram and swap usage % was basically the same which in my opinion doesn't seem proper for a faster system (i only have 3gig ram to do magic with lol).Basically stuff would get written to swap before my ram is fully(or rather about 80%) utilized it seemed, which will make things slower yes? So i searched a bit to find out how to increase swap size , and lots of posts say leave it alone don't touch it not necessary and blah blah . I worked with swap before on Linux so i thought I'd give it a try and see for myself.
so played around with different sizes until eventually ,and after 6 restarts lol, think i found the perfect balance.
generally apps open a lot more quicker now ,which was my main bother before, and having multiple apps open and switching between them is flawless now where as before I'd have to sit and wait for something to pop up when it's already open.
I tested it by opening and using (all at the same time) all programs i sometimes use , to check that i wouldn't run out of ram completely, but it peeks at around 80% usage so I think I'll be safe.
(I didn't touch the Pagefile.sys)

Attachment 364027

current setting which works noticeably faster , so yea i'm happy .

any thoughts / disagreements welcome

Unless I'm totally misreading, you say you didn't touch the pagefile, yet you did a custom pagefile size.

A very good explanation of Windows VM system here : What is Swapfile.sys and do I need it on my Windows 10 PC? | Windows Central

At the end of the day whatever settings work best for you are fine. For the majority of peoples use Windows does an efficient job of managing system and virtual memory.

Pejole2165 said:

A very good explanation of Windows VM system here : What is Swapfile.sys and do I need it on my Windows 10 PC? | Windows Central

At the end of the day whatever settings work best for you are fine. For the majority of peoples use Windows does an efficient job of managing system and virtual memory.

Swapfile is used only to store the suspended state of apps. It is not the same as the pagefile, which is what he adjusted, but says he didn't.

Unless I'm totally misreading, you say you didn't touch the pagefile, yet you did a custom pagefile size

Swapfile is used only to store the suspended state of apps. It is not the same as the pagefile, which is what he adjusted, but says he didn't

Swap file in Windows 10: optimal size, how to change, move, disable or delete it?
what i used to change it (virtual memory) , swap and page works together apparently , well it works for me ,whatever i changed

also : How to change virtual memory settings in Windows 10 | PC Gamer

As soon as I clicked your first link, I got this, a Malware Warning and I stopped.



Swap and page are different. That's a fact. If your configuration works good for you based on advise from what appears to be a dubious site, then by all means stay with it. Make sure you have good backups of your system.

Cheers.

f14tomcat said:

As soon as I clicked your first link, I got this, a Malware Warning and I stopped.



Swap and page are different. That's a fact. If your configuration works good for you based on advise from what appears to be a dubious site, then by all means stay with it. Make sure you have good backups of your system.

Cheers.

ok , thankyou

A 'tweak' with Windows 95/98/98SE and ME and the swapfile was to disable it, reboot and defrag the HDD, reboot then set the size as desired with a max and min size the same. The idea was that with slower computers and drives and a fixed size there was no fragmentation of that file. The written recommendation in Windows Help and Support on Virtual Memory was for 2.5 times the physical RAM unless programs needed larger. Somewhere with later versions of Windows the suggestion became 1.5 times the RAM. Another suggestion was the use of a second physical HDD in the computer and put the large swapfile on it while leaving a small one on the Windows drives for some programs that needed it, same for a Temp folder.

f14tomcat said:

Swapfile is used only to store the suspended state of apps. It is not the same as the pagefile, which is what he adjusted, but says he didn't.

Yes, my post was directing the OP to a good reference on Windows page and swap files so they could make a more informed change if needed, as a sort of general background.