By setting different parameters you can get a
performance
boost.
1) The swap file: the system swap file should
be at a minimum the size of the physical memory in your computer. At a max it
should be 1.5 times the physical memory. Because of limitations of the
OS you should not exceed 2 gig per swap file. If you have three gig of memory in
your computer you would have to spread the swap file across two drives at 1.5
gig or three drives at 1 gig. (Note: the strike out is no longer
applicable since XP Service Pack 2, when the file system was updated). You will
see an immediate change in the way the system acts if you move the swap file off
of the system drive. This is one of the reasons for partitioning your hard drive
into more than one partition. (Some manufactures that load an operating system
on their computers for the customers only create one very large partition, this
is really a disadvantage to the buyer because the system is not operating at
it's highest potential. One way to overcome this problem is to 'shrink' the OS
partition and create a new partition, format and you are ready to optimize your
OS). So how do I move the swap file?
Right click on My Computer, in the menu select properties, click on the
Advanced tab, under performance click on the Settings button.
Go to the Advanced tab, go down to the change button, if you look above the
button you will see the "Total paging file for all drives:" and some number,
chances are it is almost or equal to the open space on your OS drive. Click on
Change, you will see all of your drives listed. What you want to do is select
the drive you want to move the file to, normally D:, highlight the drive you
want to use, click the "custom size" radio button, in the "Initial size (MB):"
type in the size of your physical memory.
In the "Maximum size (MB):" type in the 1.5 times the physical memory unless it
exceeds 2 gig, if it exceeds 2 gig then enter 2 gig and create another swap file
on another drive. When you are complete reduce the size or remove the swap file
from the C: drive.
Note: You can run without a swap file on the C: drive if you want, the OS will
complain about not having a swap file incase of a failure: "No room on C: drive
for a memory dump in case of failure". The memory dump is a file that Microsoft
would use to help you fix your OS if you called support, the minimum size of a
swap file on the OS partition is 400 meg, just remember that the OS will use
this small swap file first so your optimization is being dragged down by the
small file on C:.
2) Another way to increase your overall system
performance is to remove any of
the visual effects that are loaded with the OS. One way is to remove the themes
background, by setting the back ground to a plain solid color you reduce the
work the processor has to do to keep it pretty. It takes about 40% of the
processor computing power to display all that visual distraction, it also slows
down your video cards performance. So how do I set the visual effects?
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