memory paging

[Guest Tester]

Hello there,

What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

XP Pro. Thanks, T

[Guest Bob I]

Re: memory paging

 

Your computer acts slow when you open additional application or switch

windows/apps and the harddrive light flashes most of the time.

 

Tester wrote:

> Hello there,

> What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

> excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

> XP Pro. Thanks, T

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: memory paging

 

>Hello there,

>What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

>excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

>XP Pro. Thanks, T

 

How much memory does your computer have now? Do you hear your hard

drive working heavily while you are doing just basic tasks?

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: memory paging

 

On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 12:32:19 -0700 (PDT), Tester

<calinguga@netscape.net> wrote:

> Hello there,

> What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

> excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

> XP Pro. Thanks, T

 

 

 

How much RAM you need for good performance is *not* a

one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the amount of

RAM you have keeps you from using the page file, and that depends on

what apps you run. Most people running a typical range of business

applications find that somewhere around 384-512MB works well, others

need more. Almost anyone will see poor performance with less than

256MB. Some people, particularly those doing things like editing large

photographic images, can see a performance boost by adding even more

than 512MB--sometimes much more.

 

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory

will decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance.

If you are not using the page file significantly, more memory will do

nothing for you. Go to

http://billsway.com/notes%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ and download

WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should

give you a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how

much more.

 

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest John John (MVP)]

Re: memory paging

 

You can use the built-in perfmon utility to monitor the pagefile as well

as key memory counters. Or you can use this little utility to monitor

the pagefile: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

 

John

 

Tester wrote:

> Hello there,

> What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

> excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

> XP Pro. Thanks, T

[Guest Tester]

Re: memory paging

 

Hi,

Sorry, I am using XP Pro with 512 MB memory, office 2003 and the

McAfee antivirus. I noticed is the anti virus that slows down opening

of any window/application. I eliminated all extra services with

msconfig, including wireless adapter(I have a laptop), machine starts

at 310 MB(I got it down from 380 MB), next when Outlook 2003 opens

memory goes to 449 MB and next after opening an excel documen(40 MB)

and a web page, they are so loaded nowadays and they easily take 100

MB-it already goes to 600MB. Yes, hard drive spins a lot.

Thanks a lot, T

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: memory paging

 

>Sorry, I am using XP Pro with 512 MB memory, office 2003 and the

>McAfee antivirus. I noticed is the anti virus that slows down opening

>of any window/application. I eliminated all extra services with

>msconfig, including wireless adapter(I have a laptop), machine starts

>at 310 MB(I got it down from 380 MB), next when Outlook 2003 opens

>memory goes to 449 MB and next after opening an excel documen(40 MB)

>and a web page, they are so loaded nowadays and they easily take 100

>MB-it already goes to 600MB. Yes, hard drive spins a lot.

>Thanks a lot, T

 

Memory being as cheap as it is today, you would be doing yourself a

favor to upgrade to at least 1GB to give your computer some more elbow

room. 2GB will surely last you for quite a few years. If you know the

type installed in your PC, you can visit newegg.com and buy a 1GB kit

for $31-37. 2GB kits for $51-57.

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: memory paging

 

On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 13:30:31 -0700 (PDT), Tester

<calinguga@netscape.net> wrote:

> Hi,

> Sorry, I am using XP Pro with 512 MB memory, office 2003 and the

> McAfee antivirus. I noticed is the anti virus that slows down opening

> of any window/application. I eliminated all extra services with

> msconfig, including wireless adapter(I have a laptop), machine starts

> at 310 MB(I got it down from 380 MB), next when Outlook 2003 opens

> memory goes to 449 MB and next after opening an excel documen(40 MB)

> and a web page, they are so loaded nowadays and they easily take 100

> MB-it already goes to 600MB. Yes, hard drive spins a lot.

 

 

The McAfee antivirus is the second worst antivirus product on the

market; only Norton is worse. It is very likely the primary cause of

your performance problems.

 

Instead of McAfee, my view is that NOD32 is the best anti-virus

software on the market, and if you want a freeware anti-virus program,

Avast! is also a very good product.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Twayne]

Re: memory paging

 

> Hello there,

> What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

> excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

> XP Pro. Thanks, T

 

Doug Knox (dougknox.com) has a decent XP pageile monitor. There are

several around hte 'net that work well. Both MS and the MVPS.org site

also carry such things with good explanations.

 

Basically, the pagefile is where XP puts things it really wants in

memory but doesn't have enough room for. When memory gets full, it

writes to the pagefile on the hard drive. The only accurate way to tell

if you're using too much pagefile space is to monitor it and see what

the pagfile is doing. I have a Gig of RAM on my system and my pagefile

very seldom ever changes; it sits right around 150 Meg or so. The

pagefile will NEVER be completely empty; the indicator of needing more

RAM though is large pafefile and/or constantly changing numbers inthe

size of hte pagefile. For that you need a monitor, really, though there

are other ways to gauge it.

Wikipedia has a good explanation if you look up pagefile there.

Clear & easy to read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paging

 

HTH

 

Twayne

[Guest Twayne]

Re: memory paging

 

> Your computer acts slow when you open additional application or switch

> windows/apps and the harddrive light flashes most of the time.

 

Well; that's one of several possibilities, but it doesn't pin down the

pagefile or RAM usage.

>

> Tester wrote:

>

>> Hello there,

>> What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

>> excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

>> XP Pro. Thanks, T

[Guest Plato]

Re: memory paging

 

Tester wrote:

>

> What is a reliable indicator to see if my machine is paging

> excessivelly and I need more memory? How does the paging work? I use

> XP Pro. Thanks, T

 

Got 2 gig of RAM?

 

--

http://www.bootdisk.com/