If you want to make your slow computer faster, then tuning your virtual memory would be a great place to start. You see, your hard drive is that place that your computer stores files like videos, picture etc... Your RAM on the other hand is the place that your computer's programs work in. Its basically like a temporary working area. It's a great system, but when your RAM gets full your computer has two choices: it can either tell you that you cannot open any more programs or it can find a new place to be used as the temporary working place. This is where virtual memory comes into play. Virutal memory is space on your computers hard drive that will be used the same way that your computer uses RAM
The RAM is used to work with programs and files when you open them, but when you run out of RAM your computer can either tell you that you cannot open any more programs or you can use something called virtual memory. Virtual memory is basically space on your hard drive that is being used like RAM. Keep in mind that the speeds on your hard drive are slower than the speeds on your RAM and is why its only used as a "secondary" temporary working place. The place on your hard drive that is being used like RAM is called a Paging File and that is what you need to configure if you want to make your slow computer a bit faster. Try this out:
If you are a Windows XP user just click Start and right click My Computer and now select Properties. Now click on the Advanced tab and then under the area that says "Performance" just click on the Settings icon. A new window should appear. Just click on the Advanced tab at the top of the window and then under the Virtual Memory section, click on Change. Just make sure to look under where it says "Drive [Volume Label]" and make sure that your C: is highlighted. Now just look under Page file size for selected drive and select Custom Size.
Now look in the section that says "Total page file size for all drives section". Under there you should take not of the amount that it says is Recommended. What ever that specific number is, type it exaclty as you see it into both boxes that say "Initial Size" and "Maximum Size". Now you Click Set, and then Ok. To finish off, just click on Apply on the next window and then OK to cllose it.
If you are using Windows Vista, click Start, click on Control Panel, on the left hand side make sure Classic View is selected and then double click on the System icon. On the left side of the window, click on the Advanced System Settings. Click on the Advanced tab and then under the section that says Performance, click on Settings. In this window, click on the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory, click Change. Uncheck the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drivers". Look under where it says "Drive [Volume Label]" and make sure that C: is selected (it should be highlighted blue). Now look under Page file size for selected drive and select Custom Size. Where it says "Total page file size for all drives section" look at the amount that says Recommended. What ever number it says is recommended, type that into both boxes where it says Initial Size and Maximum Size. Click Set, then Ok and then on the next window click on Apply and then OK.
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