Speed Up Computer Header

Archive for December 29th, 2008

boost speed by increasing virtual memory

Posted by paul on December 29th, 2008

When your RAM is not enough, your PC resorts to using the free space found on your hard drive in order to deal with data overflow. This free space that is used is called virtual memory, and it is pretty much RAM, that has been simulated on your hard drive.  Having enough of this Faux RAM available is extremely important when it comes to keeping your PC running at its peak performance.

How Virtual Memory works…

Virtual Memory on your PC is akin to having a reserve fuel tank on your truck. When you are running at full throttle and your computer’s RAM is used all up, your PC starts dumping inactive parts of program applications into the empty space of your hard drive, restoring them to the RAM when they are needed. Virtual memory is pretty much a way to trick programs into thinking that there is still enough memory space to go around and keeps them running, while in reality your computer is merely doing a complicated juggling act, shifting used and unused data between its actual RAM and its Paging File.

How to increase virtual memory

Increasing the size of your virtual memory is relatively easy and requires no special downloads. First click on your Control Panel then go to  the Performance and Maintenance Tab, now click on the System Icon. When the System Properties window pops up, go to the the Advanced Tab, then click on Settings tab in the Performance box  which will open a Performance Options window. Move down to the “virtual memory” section and click on the Change.

How much Virtual Memory?

The general rule is to make the amount of virtual memory available about one and a half times bigger than the amount of  RAM you are using. So, for instance, if you have 1000 MBs of RAM, make your Virtual Memory size 1500 MBs. Another good trick to know is to make minimum and maximum paging file size the same value. This will keep your PC from constantly changing your Page file Size and keep its performance more stable.

Thrashing

Sometimes having too much data flowing in and out of your virtual memory space can end up slowing down your computer even more.  Thrashing happens when a chunk of data happens to be too large to be efficiently handled by your computer’s paging system and swapping it in and out of virtual memory causes frequent faults. The best way to prevent thrashing is to increase the size of your Ram.

Making more room

Another way to make more room within your virtual memory without increasing the size of it is to get rid of unneeded processes and freeing up resources in your computer’s registry. This can be done with any good registry cleaner.

Related Blogs