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How to optimize Windows XP pagefile settings

Started by Lawrence Miller4 · · 👁 9 views · 76 replies

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Participants Lawrence Miller4Angela RobertsRichard Howard2Timothy Morgan38neonhawk53Bryan Sanchez86frozenheron25vividstag31slycrane94Thomas Hughes16rowdytrucker27John Palmer4amberorca192Michelle Alvarez8
vividstag31 vividstag31 Member
12 messages
joined Jun 2005
#61 ·
Does anyone know the absolute best way to defrag the Pagefile?

Back in the DOS days, you’d just wipe it clean and reboot into Windows.😁

And honestly, I'll be damned if it doesn't end up perfectly contiguous!
rowdytrucker27 rowdytrucker27 Member
10 messages
joined Feb 2004
#62 ·
I meant the actual platters on the Hard Disk Drive, but my brain just totally blanked on me... so I ended up saying cylinders instead.. 🙄

Hey, it happens... even to the pros... clearly not to me, I guess... 🙂

Oh well, whatever
rowdytrucker27😉
rowdytrucker27 rowdytrucker27 Member
10 messages
joined Feb 2004
#63 ·
vividstag31 said:You know what the best way to defrag the Pagefila is?

You just jump into DOS, wipe it clean, and then boot back into Windows. 😁

Well, I mean, that’s basically how it works, I guess, but there’s actually this Sysinternals freeware little tool that handles everything perfectly right before the system boots up! 👍

Man, who knows, haha
rowdytrucker27😉
vividstag31 vividstag31 Member
12 messages
joined Jun 2005
#64 ·
As far as I can tell, you can't even set a Pagefile if you don't have enough free space on your HDD. I’m not quite that senile, after all. So, when you're actually defining it and trying to set the maximum size, isn't that the limit you're hitting?
amberorca192 amberorca192 Active Member
118 messages
joined Oct 2005
#65 ·
Got that Pagefile issue sorted, so I'm out 🙂
Good night, catch you guys in the morning 👍

FJ FJBG! 😉 😁
John Palmer4 John Palmer4 Active Member
50 messages
joined Oct 2008
#66 ·
vividstag31 said:Look, defragging isn't useless, but you shouldn't expect miracles. First off, it takes forever, and honestly, is the speed boost even worth the wait? If we're being nitpicky, you'd basically have to run it every single time you download something because a messy browser can clutter things up so fast! It’s more about how you approach the issue rather than the process being stupid itself. 👍
Personally, I don't like recommending defragging to users because if there's a power outage, things can go south fast. That "speed boost" won't mean much if your data is toast! Besides, defragging hasn't really sped up any system significantly since the old DOS days, and it hasn't changed now. Most issues are solved just by getting a solid HDD with a bit more cache on it.

From my own experience, I can tell you that the payoff in terms of time spent versus speed gained is definitely noticeable. Especially if the system is older—you know, three months or more without ever being defragmented.

If people are that worried about power outages, why not just plug into a UPS? And besides, we aren't living in the 80s anymore where rolling blackouts were a daily thing. Just leave the defrag running overnight and the odds of anything going wrong are pretty slim.

As for fixing everything with an HDD that has more cache: for $0.00 I'll defrag to boost performance, but for N x 10^$0.67 I'll just buy an HDD with 8 MB cache, install the system on it, and then four months later I'll be hunting the market for a drive with 16 MB cache just to get another boost.

I personally use Diskeeper, and let me tell you, it works wonders on fragments. It's a fantastic product. Highly recommended!
vividstag31 vividstag31 Member
12 messages
joined Jun 2005
#67 ·
It’s funny how differently everyone experiences this. From my own perspective, I know that whatever I defragment today to get a little extra speed might not hold up tomorrow. So, I’ll just do it all over again.
amberorca192 amberorca192 Active Member
118 messages
joined Oct 2005
#68 ·
vividstag31 said:See how different everyone's experience is? Personally, I know from experience that what I defrag today to get a little speed boost might not be the case tomorrow, so I just do it again.

I don't get it.😕
Michelle Alvarez8 Michelle Alvarez8 Regular
299 messages
joined Nov 2015
#69 ·
You guys honestly fascinate me—I mean, who else stays up until the crack of dawn debating PFu? 😁

It’s just like what I posted over on Tutorials—my drive is split into three different partitions.
The first one is my 1GB Pagefile partition.
Then there's the 10GB Windows partition.
And finally, a third one for movies, music, and all my other junk.

All of this is running on two identical machines (the only difference is the one at home has a GF4). Everything works perfectly without a single hiccup!
John Palmer4 John Palmer4 Active Member
50 messages
joined Oct 2008
#70 ·
vividstag31 said:See how differently everyone experiences this? From my own experience, I know that even if I defrag today and things feel a bit snappier, that won't last forever. So, I just do it again later.

So what? You just run a defrag once a week and you've got a fast drive and organized data. I don't see the issue here! It’s not like you have to sit there staring at the computer while it works, right?
Michelle Alvarez8 Michelle Alvarez8 Regular
299 messages
joined Nov 2015
#71 ·
What do you mean? It’s just a habit from the old days when I used to optimize Windows 98. 😬 You know, just sitting there, watching those little blue progress boxes crawl along—it's oddly satisfying. But then the screensaver kicks in and wipes everything out! You end up losing three or four good minutes just starting over. 😁
John Palmer4 John Palmer4 Active Member
50 messages
joined Oct 2008
#72 ·
Seriously, who actually uses the built-in Windows defrag? It’s such a headache... why would anyone bother with that?
vividstag31 vividstag31 Member
12 messages
joined Jun 2005
#73 ·
John Palmer4 said:So what? You run a defrag once a week and you’ve got a fast drive and plenty of space. I don't see the issue. It’s not like you have to sit there staring at the monitor while it works.

Oh sure, and then I just slowly morph into a servant for my computer instead of having it serve me. Forget about it. Anyone who thinks that actually speeds things up can go ahead and defrag away. Personally, I’d rather be out making money.

I'll admit, this whole thing about a fragmented Pagefile completely wrecked me. It doesn't make much sense to me, but it's certainly not the first nonsense stunt from FJBG. Honestly, the only reason I ever assumed the Pagefile couldn't be fragmented was because it's always one solid block on all my machines. Perhaps that's because when I install a clean system, I set the size immediately and don't let Windows mess around with it.
John Palmer4 John Palmer4 Active Member
50 messages
joined Oct 2008
#74 ·
vividstag31 said:Oh sure, and then I'll just slowly turn into the computer's servant instead of having it work for me. Forget about it! Who actually thinks defragging speeds anything up? While that's running, I'm busy making money.

And you aren't a servant this way? Constantly babysitting antivirus updates, Windows updates, and whatever other nonsense comes along... 😁

It definitely speeds things up, I'm certain of it. And I've got a few years of experience under my belt...
I just fire up Diskeeper and head out. When I get back, I shut the machine down. Thanks, and have a good one. Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is...
vividstag31 vividstag31 Member
12 messages
joined Jun 2005
#75 ·
The real headache starts when you're managing more than a dozen workstations at once. 😁

You misunderstood me. It’s not that I’m against defragging, but I still maintain that the ROI just isn't there—especially if we're talking about machines running Microsoft Office. Questionable, isn't it?
John Palmer4 John Palmer4 Active Member
50 messages
joined Oct 2008
#76 ·
Especially if they aren't mine 😁 Honestly, I couldn't care less whether they're fast or slow 😁😁😁

But my computer? It’s gotta run like a beast!
vividstag31 vividstag31 Member
12 messages
joined Jun 2005
#77 ·
Why isn't Eustahije loading that page file directly onto the RAM disk? I'd love to hear if anyone here has actually tried this.

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