Faster PC Performance Memory

By Kirk Steers

Not so long ago, having 64MB of RAM on your PC was considered a luxurious excess. Today, it's the bare minimum. Running many programs at once, processing graphics and video, or caching heaps of Web pages--each devours RAM the way TV's Homer Simpson devours donuts at a Krispy Kreme factory.

Insufficient or improperly configured memory can hinder a PC's performance and cause intermittent, hard-to-resolve error messages, or even system crashes. The best way to avoid this, of course, is to add more memory to your system.

RAM prices fluctuate rapidly, but they have trended down in recent years. I recommend upgrading to at least 128MB.

But before you add memory, make the most of your existing RAM. Windows has several settings for optimizing memory performance, as well as tools for finding and fixing memory-related problems.

When your PC runs out of space in standard memory (its RAM chips), it stores overflow data in virtual memory, which is simply a large file--called a swap file--that's located on your hard disk. Data is accessed from a disk slower than it is accessed from standard RAM, so it pays to optimize your swap file's performance.

To view your swap file settings, right-click the System icon on your desktop, select Properties, and choose Virtual Memory under the Performance tab.

Set Your Swap File
By default, Windows automatically adjusts your swap file's size to meet its needs. A nearly full hard disk squeezes your swap file, and this can lead to sluggish performance or sometimes a system crash. So always have at least 100MB of disk space put aside for your swap file.

To set the size of the swap file manually, choose Let me specify my own virtual memory settings in the Virtual Memory dialog box (see FIGURE 1). Select a minimum size and a maximum size, or enter the same number in both fields to fix the file at a constant size. Freezing the swap file's size may increase system performance because Windows no longer has to adjust the file size, but it also increases your PC's risk of running out of memory.

If you have more than one hard disk, place the swap file on the one with the fastest access time. Do so by changing the value in the 'Hard disk' field of the Virtual Memory dialog box and then rebooting.

Defragmenting your hard disk can improve its performance as well. Over time, files get stored on a drive in pieces that may become scattered around the hard disk. A defragmentation utility rearranges the data on the disk to store each file in a single, contiguous block. Applications can access a file that has its pieces stored in close physical proximity on your drive much more quickly than they can access a file with scattered pieces.

To run Windows' Disk Defragmenter utility, select Start, Accessories, System Tools. Unfortunately, that won't defragment the swap file because Windows considers it fixed data that can't be moved. To overcome this hindrance, make the swap file as small as possible before you defragment by restarting your system and closing all apps that launch on start-up.

If you have enough physical RAM installed, you may be able to remove the whole swap file temporarily, defragment the disk, and then replace the swap file. Make sure your system has sufficient RAM to run Disk Defragmenter, however. If your system runs out of RAM and has no swap file, it may crash. See "Mind Your Memory" below for instructions on how to check your available memory.

To remove the file, check Disable virtual memory in the Virtual Memory dialog box and reboot. To reenable it, uncheck Disable virtual memory and reboot.

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