i am running windows xp pro sp1, with 1024 megs of RAM.. I was told by someone to set my page file at 256mb. Is this a good idea? thanks.

Generally, the Pagefile is 1.5x physical memory. The actual best size varies according to your use. Some will agree and others will disagree. You may be able to disable pagefile alltogether since you have over 512MB. The problem with this will be that you may have apps that use the pagefile and they will fuss if you remove it. Best thing to do is start with what you have, move it up to around your 1024, if it seems to hurt, drop back some. tinkering with it is the only way to find the "sweet spot"

Make it low as possible. The less access there is to your disk, the faster your computer will be.

I would never recommend diabling your pagefile if you use graphics and multimedia editing software because many of them complain when the pagefile is absent.

250 sounds modest enough to me with that kind of memory. You may even want to go lower.. Perhaps 128mb...

thanks for the advice, i preciate it.

You should also set Windows to make better use of your RAM. I'm a bit rushed here at the moment, though it's covered in the XP Memory guide we have up here. You'll want to set the LargeSystemCache & DisablePagingExecutive values to 1.