Pagefile - Do you have it enabled or disabled?

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CMLew

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Oct 30, 2015
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I think the safe keeping here is leaving it by default [ON]. The operating system itself contains numerous performance optimization that goes very well without messing the configuration.

RAM problem? Upgrade instead.

Not for ultrabook. Those RAM literally cant be upgraded. LIke mine UX305 came with 4GB RAM, so I have to stuck with that for a very long time. >.<
 
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LabZero

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The issue is that Windows manages the pagefile in inefficient mode in most cases, and so if we disable it and we have a lot of RAM installed, then this forces the operating system to keep everything into random access memory. So if the RAM capacity is high the pagefile will hardly touched; as a result, make it inactive or less does not lead to any advantage.
The opposite happens instead when the RAM is short and the pagefile is disabled by the user. In these circumstances it is likely that applications start to have inevitable crash, because there is no virtual memory where Windows can allocate data when the RAM ends. The system becomes so generally unstable.
Personally I keep active the pagefile.
 

Myriad

Level 7
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May 22, 2016
349
Left to it's own devices , Windows seems to set the page-file to roughly equal the amount of RAM installed
That appears to be the case with W7 anyway .
I recently upgraded the RAM in a client's machine from 4 GB to 8 GB and without any intervention from me ,
Windows reset the page-file to ~ 8 GB on reboot

On reading around , I see that many recommend a page-file 1.5 times the size of installed RAM.
That appears excessive to me .
I think a worst-case scenario would be a BSOD where the maximum possible size of the dump-file would be 8 GB
 

Cohen

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May 22, 2016
328
I've always left it as "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" and have never had to change it as I've never experienced an issue from it.
 

JakeXPMan

Level 17
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Oct 20, 2014
804
I have it always set :ON

What works better setting the paging file 1.5x times the RAM you have, or letting windows manage the file size on its own ?
 
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Myriad

Level 7
Verified
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May 22, 2016
349
I have it always set :ON

What works better setting the paging file 1.5x times the RAM you have, or letting windows manage the file size on its own ?

I recommend the latter option .
This website is well worth reading if you would like further info on this topic .

I would go with the post ( # 18 ) from hjlbx

There are similar discussions ( or arguments even ) about using utilities to create a " ramdisk " ,
but apart from a few very specific situations , the user will see very little benefit and potentially a
heap of unnecessary headaches
 
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