Windows XP Memory Tweak Guide Help

[jin143]

I'm a noob at techy stuff and this is the first time I've tried to upgrade my pc myself. Neways, I was following that guide till I got stuck. I've done most of the work but I just got stuck at 'Configuring the Page File' which can be found https://www.techspot.com/tweaks/memory-winxp/memory-4.shtml there.

In the first paragraph where it says

set the Paging file size for selected drive to Custom size, setting the Initial size to 1000MB and Maximum to 1500MB (Lower the Initial accordingly if Hard Drive space is an issue).

do I still use that setting if I have a total of 14.6 GB with 5.89GB free space on my Drive?

Scrolling down the page of that link, the 2nd picture shows that the Recommended paging file size is 1150 MB whereas mine says 382MB. I have 256 MB of RAM. What value should I lower my settings to?

And finally, when it says to

run your most resource intensive Applications in order to see just how Virtual Memory is utilised

does this mean all simultaneously or one by one?

Thanks alot! sorry, i'm such a noob!

 

[Tedster]

yes. You can set the page file to what it says if you have 14GB. your page file won't be anywhere near the amount of space you have left on the disk.

running your most system resouce programs means running many different programs at once. A page file acts like additional memory by using hard drive space. If all your programs exceed physical system ram, then the OS will write to a page file and dump programs that are not currently active to it. When you switch back, the OS read the page file back into system memory.

In the end it is always best to maximize your RAM in a system as page file usage will bog down your system. XP should never be run in a system with less than 512mb of ram or it will run extremely slow. In fact, I wouldn't run it with less than 1 gb of ram.

 

[jin143]

Yeah I know I really should update my computer but I'm goin to get a new laptop and everything next year so I don't find much point in gettin a new RAM now. Using Windows XP on this amount of RAM is slow, but manageable. =)

thanks for your help! really appreciate it!!

[edit]
I've tried changing the intial and maximum page file size but it won't stick to the number i put. Whenever I put 1000 and 1500 MB as my initial and maximum page file size and restart my pc, it reverts back to the old settings.

It states that the recommended paging file size for all drives should be 382 MB. Is this why the computer keeps changing the values back to the older settings?