Page File & Performance Options !!!

Page File & Performance Options
[Vista tips]
* Right click on "computer", select "properties"; from the list on the left choose "advanced system settings." Now, under "advanced", hit the button for settings under "Performance". Now, in "performance options", you can have Windows automatically adjust settings for best appearance, best performance, let Windows choose your settings for you, or you can customize your settings. If you do it manually, each box that you uncheck will add to your performance and reduce your boot time, but will make your GUI look a little crappier. Personally, I let Windows choose automatically (one of the few things it can do right by itself, lol). Under the tab "advanced", leave the "adjust for best performance of” set to programs, unless you are folding or have elaborate background services running. Now, under "virtual memory", which we call VM (not to be confused with virtual machine), hit the button marked "change". Do not let it automatically manage; uncheck the box that says it is doing that. Here is the thing: if you have more than 2GB ram, consider disabling the paging file totally. If you have two or more HDDs, place your page file on the one without the OS if you absolutely must have a page file. As a rule of thumb, take the "recommended" size (from the bottom), round up to the nearest 100MB, and set that number under "custom size" as both the minimum and the maximum. Make sure to hit the button marked "set" before you hit apply > ok. You may need to restart your system if you have lowered the size, but not if you raise it. Allowing dynamic adjustment is good on old off - the - shelf systems, but will slow you down. For best performance, the Initial size and Maximum size should be the same unless you have the RAM to run without it. By settings them as the same, the size of your page file will be constant, which will reduce the distance your r/w heads have to travel. Putting the page file on another drive is a great alternative to disabling the page file, but do not if it is external USB or flash based (i.e. SD cards), except in the case of a SSD (solid state drive, which I doubt anyone here has). Finally, under data execution prevention, make sure to only have it on for essential services and windows only. Remember later that if you ever see a notice about something you are trying to do being stopped by "DEP", you can add it to the “exceptions” list. Rarely, you may get this problem if you are running certain benchmarking programs or if you try to run F@H as a service.