How to increase the page file in Windows 7

The content of the article

• What is virtual memory?
• How to increase the Windows 7 paging file
• Video tutorial: how to change the swap file

The operating system is initially configured to provide optimal performance on all models of laptops or desktop computers. PC components and resources may be different, so users need to make changes on their own. Sometimes the tuning, which you will learn about below, helps to improve the system..

What is virtual memory?

Before you can increase the swap file in Windows 7, you need to figure out what it is. To fully understand the principle of operation of this parameter, you need to understand the basic terminology:

1. Random access memory (aka RAM, RAM) – performs the role of a random access memory device. If you opened some kind of program, application, then part of the data for this procedure is stored in RAM. When you re-open the process is faster thanks to her. After turning off the computer, it is completely cleared. The larger the amount of RAM, the faster the programs respond.
2. Paging-file (aka swap-file) – a document on the hard drive with the name pagefile.sys, by default it is hidden. It uses its Windows system to store data, parts of programs that did not fit in RAM. If space is freed up, then information from the swap part will be placed in RAM and vice versa.
3. Virtual memory – the combined meaning of the previous two terms.

How to increase the Windows 7 paging file

If a program error message appears in Windows due to a lack of virtual space, you need to either purchase additional RAM or increase the size of the page file. As a rule, it is automatically controlled by the system, so you will have to change its volume yourself. This procedure will improve the performance of your computer, help to avoid failure operations..

For optimal operation, the swap-file should be at the minimum value equal to the size of the RAM, and at the maximum – exceed 2 times. If you have 4 Gigabytes of RAM, then the lower value should be 4, and the upper 8 GB. It is believed among users that the swap-file should be static, the parameters of the maximum and minimum values ​​coincide, but this theory has not received practical confirmation.

Before proceeding to the settings, it should be borne in mind that you can create it on each drive (partition) of the hard drive, but this will not give a real performance gain, so you need to work with the document on the system disk. Instructions on how to increase the page file in Windows 7:

1. Click on the “My Computer” shortcut, go to the “Properties” section.
2. In the new window, in the left menu, find the item “Advanced system settings”.
3. In the “Advanced” section of the “Performance” group, click the “Options” button.
4. Next, switch to the “Advanced” tab.
5. From the section “Virtual memory” you need to click “Change”.
6. Go to the tab “Virtual memory”.
7. Here you can increase, disable or transfer swap-file Windows to another disk. Just select drive C, check the box next to “No swap file”, click “Set”. Agree to the warning. After that, select another section, check the “Specify size” checkbox, set the maximum and minimum volume.
8. You can also simply increase the value on drive C without transferring.
9. Reboot the PC for the new settings to take effect.
10. To prevent the object from being fragmented, you need to set the same value for max and min size.

This manual is relevant for laptops and computers in which the RAM does not exceed 4 GB. Modern models come with 8 GB of memory, which is enough for all current Windows operations. Some users indicate that with a RAM size of 8 GB or more, the system works faster when swap-file is disabled.

Video tutorial: how to change the swap file