Virtual Memory & PC Performance

You must be aware of the role the system memory plays in speeding up computer. My current post deals with how you can overcome the problem of limited RAM resources by using virtual memory.

Virtual memory is a space that can be reserved on the hard disk in a variable amount and it plays the role of an extension in physical RAM. Therefore virtual memory simulates as RAM when your system is falling short of RAM resources.

When this memory can help you?
Almost always... if you have small RAM installed on your system.

Where this memory is helpful?
When computer hangs or freezes frequently it is mainly because of small RAM. Virtual memory solves this problem.


The more amount of hard disk space you allocate for virtual memory, the better will be the PC performance. One important point to note is that the faster your hard disk performs, the better will be the virtual memory. This means that the faster data access speed of hard disk results in better virtual memory performance. Due to this very fact the whole amount of virtual memory should be kept on a single partition of the hard disk rather than multiple partitions. This will help in faster access speed to full virtual memory space.



Quick Guide to Tweak Virtual Memory

1. Right click My Computer > Properties
2. In "Advanced" tab on top click "Settings" under "Performance"
3. Select "Advanced" tab and click "Change" button
4. Select "No paging file" for D, E, F,... drives one by one, pressing "Set" button each time
5. Now select drive C and select Custom size then specify same Initial and Maximum value for the amount of space you want to reserve for virtual memory... say 4000 MB =~4 GB
6. Press "Set" button again and press OK.

Specifying the value subtracts the MBs of space from amount of space available on that drive. You should always make sure to leave at least 1 GB extra space on your system drive that is holding Windows operating system. The more space you allocate for virtual memory the better will be the performance of your PC and the lesser space you allocate the slower will be your PC.

Disk Defragmentation

As it's an easier thing for you to read some info from adjacent pages of a book rather than to find it from several scattered pages across the book, likewise is the case with your computer.

If your computer is getting the required data from contiguous hard disk locations then it will show faster performance. Whereas if the data is scattered across the disk with free chunks of memory present in between, then it will make your computer slow.

Putting together the fragmented data and coalescing the free chunks of memory is termed as disk defragmentation. Disk defragmentation is a very vital utility for maintaining PC performance. Therefore Microsoft included this utility in windows and it is called Windows Disk Defragmenter. Performing disk defragmentation regularly is a great thing to speed up your PC

PC Performance Decline Over Time

A new windows install always runs the computer smoother and faster. But with the passage of time the PC performance doesn’t remain the same. The factors involved in degrading the PC performance include reduced disk space, fragmentation of windows files and user data all over the disk, registry problems and increasing number of software programs installed on the system. The solution to fix all these windows problems are the windows system utilities. These system utilities include disk defragmenter, disk cleanup tool, file compressor, add / remove redundant windows programs and also different registry cleaners that are available for free.

System utilities are a key area of modern operating system designing. By using these system utilities PC performance becomes nearly as good as that of a PC with a newly installed windows.

What do you prefer: Windows Performance or Visual Effects?

In Windows XP you will find visual effects which make its appearance nice. While these effects give an attractive working environment, they also consume your computer resources since they are merely graphical effects.

The Visual Effects settings in Windows Performance options let you liberate the resources being used by windows free and provide better windows performance when you disable these visual effects. To find visual effects settings:

1. Right click My Computer icon
2. Click Properties
3. Go to Advanced tab and click Settings button under Performance.
4. In Visual Effects tab choose "Adjust for best performance".

Note: There is just one thing that I don't like about choosing the "Adjust for best performance" option and it's that your desktop icons start appearing strange when you apply this setting. To fix this problem scroll down in the options under "Custom" and mark the second last option checked, i.e. "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop". Now your icons will look normal. Click Apply and OK.

Windows Startup

Slow startup is one of the most common windows problems faced by many computer users. During windows startup, the startup programs load into the RAM. The more the number of startup programs designated to be loaded at windows startup, the longer it will take your computer to begin responding to you after boot up. Besides this, since the startup programs reside in RAM after they are loaded at windows startup, they occupy your computer resources and make your computer slow.

Startup programs are basically meant for providing the feature of speeding up application startup. This means that those programs which load at windows startup will be opened more quickly when you launch them. Besides this, security software like antivirus and firewalls are also startup programs and they run in the background. Some software updater items are also loaded into RAM at windows startup and keep updating the concerning program in the background, while consuming your network bandwidth, hence slowing down the connection speed as well. Not all startup programs are worth launching at windows startup.

Fix Slow Computer Browsing

You may be experiencing a little delay in browsing the files on your computer when you open folders. To fix this problem disable the function “Automatically search for network folders and printers”.

This feature searches for shared printers and folders on your network every time you open a folder in windows explorer, thus making computer slow.

This function is useful only if your PC is part of a network that allows you to use a resource such as an online printer or a shared network folder.

Speed Up PC by Customizing Windows Services

You can speed up your PC by disabling redundant windows services.
There are different services running in the background of Windows XP. Many of them are handy for a user in one environment and completely irrelevant for users using XP in another environment. While these services are running in the background of Windows XP, RAM resources are being consumed by each of them whether they are coming into your use or not.

For example, there is a windows service called "Print Spooler" whose job is to queue up the printing tasks that are pending. For a user who has a printer, it is an indispensable windows service. But on the other hand there are users who never need to use a printer with their PC. In their case this windows service is just a useless consumption of RAM. These windows services are set by default so that a standard windows installation never lacks services necessary for the diverse needs of different users who use windows in different environments.

Many windows services are really not useful for majority of common computer users. You can disable many of them very safely to speed up PC.