Windows Vista creates a pagefile which essentially acts as RAM on your hard drive. This page file speeds up access to commonly used programs, but becomes fragmented over time and can be helped with a rebuild. Learn how to rebuild the pagefile in this guide.
Rebuild the Windows Vista Page File
1. Press Start, right click on Computer and select Properties
2. In the left-hand pane, select Advanced System Settings
3. Click the Advanced tab and under Performance, select Settings…
4. Click the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory, select Change…
5. Uncheck Automatically Manage Paging File Size for All Drives
6. Select the drive that contains your paging file (usually C) and select the Custom size option
7. Edit the minimum and maximum page file size to 0 and press set
8. Now restart your computer
9. Now follow steps 1-5 and replace step 6 with System managed size and press Set
10. Press OK to save and after a brief period of sluggishness, while the computer rebuilds the page file, you should notice improved speeds.
What Next?
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3 Responses to Optimize Performance in Vista by Rebuilding the Page File
FMustafa
Better to Select the last option “No paging file” and then click “Set”.
RCollewijn
Much beter is to set (after reboot) your pagefile to fix with a maximum 4096MB. For this example:
Initial Size 2287MB
Maximum Size 2287MB
Larry Miller
Yet another uninformed article about the pagefile.
The pagefile is not like other files. The size of most files always matches the size of the data it contains. This is NOT the case with the pagefile. With default settings the pagefile initial size will be 1.5 times the size of physical memory or 2GB, whichever is less. If this size is sufficient the pagefile will never grow and no fragmentation will occur. This will remain true no matter no matter how heavily it is used or how long.
If the initial size is not sufficient then Windows will display a warning and then resize it as necessary. In this case fragmentation will probably occur. However, after a reboot (or sooner) the pagefile will revert to it’s original unfragmented state. If this occurs during normal use it would be advisable to set a custom initial size larger than the default.
Fragmentation in the pagefile is not normally a serious performance issue except in extreme cases. The Windows defrag program will have a button to request a report which will show this. If the number is small no action is necessary. If it becomes a problem the best solution is to use a small program called “PageDefrag” available for free download from Microsoft. Be sure to do a normal defrag before using this tool.
Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA
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