The Windows 7 paging file does not change. How to determine the required size of the paging file? How to choose the right page file size
The paging file, also known as swap (in English swap), also known as virtual memory, is a function operating system, implemented in the form of a file into which some part of the amount of information in the RAM is unloaded (written) when it is full. If the paging file is disabled, or if there is insufficient disk space allocated for it, problems may arise. unpleasant consequences in the form of slowdowns and deep freezes of the operating system. Increasing the paging file can solve these problems.
Where is the swap file located? As a rule, unless a different location is assigned in the settings, the pagefile.sys page file is located in the root of drive C and is hidden. Size this file should not be less than the amount of RAM installed in the computer. Otherwise, it is recommended to check the settings and, if necessary, increase the disk space allocated for the paging file.You can change the paging file size in Windows XP as follows:
- Right-click on the “My Computer” shortcut on the desktop. In the appeared context menu select “Properties”.
- In the window that opens called “System Properties”, go to the “Advanced” tab. In this tab, find the “Performance” section and click on the “Options” button.
- A window called “Performance Options” will open. In it you also need to go to the “Advanced” tab, in which in the “ Virtual memory» Click on the “Change” button.
- In the window that appears, named “Virtual memory”, select the “Custom size” option and specify the initial and maximum size of the paging file in megabytes. Click on the “Ok” button.
- As a result of the settings made, the operating system should inform you that “in order for the changes made to take effect, you must restart the computer.”
- Reboot the computer, resulting in an increased size of the paging file.
As for setting up the paging file, the following should be said:
- It is advisable to set the minimum size of the paging file to one and a half times larger than the amount of RAM in the laptop. The maximum is four times the amount of RAM.
- Using a paging file, even if you set it to a very large size, does not eliminate the need to increase RAM, since the speed of reading from disk is much lower than the speed of retrieving information from RAM. This problem is partially solved fast SSDs disks.
- If there are several disks on the computer, then it is best to organize the swap on the fastest one.
- A good choice for configuring the paging file is System Selected Size. IN in this case the operating system itself regulates the swap size based on its actual needs.
- It is useful to periodically defragment the page file. But for this you need to use a third party software, since standard using Windows this cannot be done.
How to configure the swap file? What it is? How does it affect the performance of the entire system?
In Windows there is such a file, it is called a sweep file, which is an extension of the computer’s RAM, the so-called virtual memory or paging file. So, to this Windows file accesses constantly, we write something there and read something from there, in the process of executing programs. The most interesting thing is that Windows accesses this file regardless of the amount of RAM. The only thing is that when there is little memory, it is accessed more often. When there is a lot of memory, it accesses less often, but it still accesses. Even if the computer has 16 GB of RAM installed, Windows continues to work with the page file, which slows down the system.
In addition, this file has a dynamic size that is calculated each time it is accessed, which costs time. In addition, if the file is not whole, it will be read even slower. And in principle, a dynamic file cannot be whole, since as it expands it fills the voids between files. From the above, the following conclusion suggests itself: if you make the size of this file constant and write it to disk as a whole, then Windows will access it faster. And most importantly, this acceleration will extend to the operation of the entire system.
We will consider setting up the paging file at Windows example 7. Since the operating principle of all Windows is the same and the interfaces are extremely similar, everything described in this article is fully consistent with Windows 10 / 8 / 8.1 / xp. And so, to configure this file you need to click right click mouse over the computer icon and go to computer properties or through the control panel to system properties. Next, open " Extra options systems". 
Then open the “Advanced” tab, then in the “Performance” section, click the “Options” button.
In the window that opens, select the “Advanced” tab and click the “Change” button.
The "Virtual Memory" window opens.
This window is split into two parts. In the first, most important part, the paging file is configured. The second, smaller part displays size recommendations and total size existing file paging on all disks.
At the very top of the "Virtual Memory" window there is an item "Automatically select the size of the paging file." If this item is checked, the settings window becomes unavailable and all paging file modes are selected by the system. For execution manual settings The checkbox in this item must be unchecked. By default, the system locates the paging file on system disk, as a rule, this is drive C, and its size is dynamic, that is, changing depending on needs from 16 MB minimum to as many (MB, GB, TB) as the system needs. Maximum size The page file is theoretically limited only free space the disk on which it is located. Naturally, it is basically impossible for a system to work quickly with such a file. In practice, the maximum volume rarely reaches the recommended one.
Imagine a steam locomotive pulling a train with carriages containing various loads. At each station the locomotive stops and work begins on forming a new train. Some cars are uncoupled, others are coupled. And each time a different number of cars. As you understand, the procedure is quite long. Tolley is a train with a fixed number of cars or trolleys. The train pulled up to the station, they loaded the trolleys with cargo and the train moved on. At the next station the necessary trolleys were turned over, i.e. were released and the train moved again without delays. So here, too, a fixed size of the paging file works faster than a dynamic one (there are no calculations related to volumes). All that remains is to determine how much volume we need.
As you remember HDD it's the same thing on a computer slow device. Ideally, during program execution, it is desirable that there are no calls to it at all; this is the only way to achieve maximum performance systems. But the fact is that Windows is designed as a multitasking system and, moreover, capable of implementing multitasking mode when small volumes memory. This is precisely facilitated by the paging file, into which inactive tasks are unloaded. When memory is low, for example 512 MB, the system accesses the page file every time it switches from task to task (from program to program). And what more programs we have it enabled at the same time, the larger the swap file will be required. In reality, you will need a volume of about 2.5 GB. Of course, this is a conditional approximation and it very much depends on the volume of programs used.
Now imagine that we doubled the amount of RAM to 1 GB. What will happen now? Several programs, for example 2-3 (depending on their size), will be able to work entirely in memory. The system will start accessing the paging file only when there is not enough memory, and this will happen if you add the number of active ones. As a result, 2 GB will be enough for you.
Let's now double the memory capacity - up to 2 GB. Have you noticed what's happening? The amount of memory used migrates from the page file to RAM. That is, now we should have enough paging file within 1.5 GB. And if the memory is doubled to 4 GB, 1 GB should be enough for everything. Based on this sequence, we can assume that if you have 8 GB or more, you can completely abandon the paging file. And this theory is true to some extent. But everything depends, as I said, on the load on the system, i.e. on the number of active programs and on their severity, that is, volume. For example, with 2 GB of memory, the system creates a page file of 2.7 GB, but recommends 3 GB.
So I suggest starting to try with volumes equal to those recommended by the system. Further, depending on your needs, if this volume is too much or too little, then you can always reasonably reduce or increase it based on previous paragraph and bring the paging file to the ideal size. And so you have received enough information to make the right decision regarding volume.
But the question is, how to make the swap file intact? The thought arises: is it possible to defragment the paging file? The system does not defragment the swap file directly. But there is a way to make it so. And so, the first thing we need to do is disable the swap file created after installing Windows. Let's do it like this. 
Select the item “without paging file” and click the “Set” button. The system will curse and display a warning window: 
How to configure the swap file - Warning
Since we are doing this intentionally, we click "Yes". And a new window appears asking us to reboot the system for the changes to take effect. 
How to configure the swap file - Reboot suggestion
Click "OK" and reboot the system. Windows now boots without a page file. To new file swap appears to be intact, it is necessary to defragment the disk space. Since we strive for maximum system performance, we will place the file on drive C (this is the case with one physical disk). Therefore, we will defragment Disk C. To do this, open the My Computer tab. Point the mouse at drive C, right-click and select properties. Open the "Service" tab and click on the "Defragmentation" button.
How to configure the paging file - Disk defragmentation The defragmenter program will start. Select drive C and click "Disk Defragmenter". 
How to set up a paging file - Defragmentation of drive C
If suddenly for some reason you don’t have a Windows defragmenter installed or you’re not happy with it, then it’s okay. For example, download the free Auslogics Disk Defrag and defragment drive C, as shown in the figure below. 
How to configure the swap file - Auslogics
Next, we return to the paging file settings window. 
How to configure the swap file - Setting the file size
Select a defragmented drive C or another specially prepared empty hard drive. Select the “Specify size” section, enter the “Initial” and Maximum” sizes in megabytes in the windows. In this case, I indicated the system-recommended size of 3070 MB. The numbers must be the same, this is important for creating a fixed size of the paging file. Next, click the set button. Specified the numbers will be displayed in the line of drive C, as in the figure. Next, click the “OK” button. Reboot the computer. Now Windows will create a new, unfragmented page file in a new location during boot.
Attention: VERY IMPORTANT point!!!
If you have two or more Hard Drives(not sections, namely physical disks), That better file Place the swap space on a different drive than the one where the system drive C is located, preferably on the fastest one. This will significantly speed up the performance of the entire system. To do this, you need to prepare the first partition on another disk. It is advisable that the disk be empty and then the paging file will be located at the very beginning of the first partition and will immediately take up the whole space. This will give another small increase in the acceleration of the entire system.
After setting up the paging file in this way, the system will start working faster, and in the case of two disks, much faster.
Happy ACCELERATION. I hope that you understand "How to configure the paging file?" and for you now this is not a big problem.
If you have questions, ask in the comments.
A page file, or swap file, is a so-called virtual memory needed to increase the computer's physical RAM.
During the operation of resource-intensive Windows applications 7 actively uses physical memory, and when it becomes insufficient, it accesses the swap file, which stores data that does not fit in physical memory. The paging file has a strictly defined name pagefile.sys and cannot be changed.
When installing and further installing Windows 7, the system itself selects the required size of the paging file, placing it on the disk with the operating system. However, the parameters set by the system do not always provide the highest performance. Additionally, to improve performance, you should place pagefile.sys somewhere other than system partition, which will increase performance.
How to determine the size of the paging file
To provide good performance, you need to install minimum size pagefile.sys, equal to the amount of physical RAM, and the maximum is twice as much. For example, if you have 4 GB of memory installed on your computer, then the optimal minimum size of the swap file will be 4 GB, and the maximum will be 8 GB.
Some users set the same size of the initial and maximum swap file, which avoids its fragmentation and, therefore, reduces the load on the system to some extent. However, you can avoid the performance degradation associated with the dynamic size of pagefile.sys by enabling the pagefile.sys cleanup feature after system shutdown.
To enable clearing of the paging file upon completion Windows operation, Open the window Local policies security. To do this, go to Start - Run - secpol.msc.
In the next window, you need to find the item Shut down: clear the virtual memory swap file. Double-click on it, set the Enabled option and click the Apply button.
Where to locate the swap file in Windows 7
Windows 7 allows you to place the paging file on multiple drives at once, but this will not improve performance. The optimal option from a performance point of view is a single swap file located on any partition other than the system one.
in order to change standard arrangement pagefile.sys, you must first completely delete it and then create it in a location convenient for you. How to do this is described below.
Start - right-click on the My Computer - Properties shortcut. A window will appear, in the left section of which you should select Advanced system settings.
A new small window will appear where we need the Advanced tab.
Click on the Settings button in the Performance section. Go to the Advanced tab again.
In this tab, you need to click the Change button in the Virtual memory compartment. A dialog box will appear where you can configure the size of swap files on any partition.
If you haven't changed the settings after Windows installations 7, pagefile.sys will be located on the system drive ((C:/). Select it and, having activated the No paging file option, click on the Set button. In some cases, a warning may appear. Just click Yes.
Return to dialog box Visual memory and allocate the disk where you want to place the swap file. Specify the initial and maximum size of pagefile.sys: the initial size should be equal to physical memory, the maximum should be twice as large.
If you want to make the size of pagefile.sys static, the settings in the dialog box will look like this.
If you reduce the size of the paging file, the changes will take effect immediately. Increasing pagefile.sys will require a computer restart. In any case, a window will appear in front of you requiring you to reboot the system.
For the most effective use system resources you need to be able to configure it correctly paging file size. What is it and how can you use it to speed up Windows?
While working at the computer we run various applications. Each of them consumes a certain amount of RAM. If at some point there is not enough physical memory, the system can use the so-called virtual memory, which is located on the computer’s hard drive in the form of a paging file. It is called, is hidden and lies in the root folder of the disk. If necessary, the system accesses this file, storing in it data that does not fit into RAM.
Disk memory works much slower than RAM, so to increase the speed of your computer it is better to purchase and install additional physical memory modules. But if you old computer and at the same time there is no way to increase the amount of RAM - you can increase the swap file so that the volume available memory became bigger.
Install right size swap file can be done as follows:
IN Windows XP: Right-click on “My Computer” – “Properties” – “Advanced” tab – “Performance” – “Options” – “Advanced” – “Virtual Memory” – “Change”.
IN Windows 7: Right-click on “Computer” – “Properties” – on the left select “Advanced system settings” – “Advanced” tab – “Performance” – “Options” – “Advanced” – “Virtual memory” – “Change”.
A similar window will open in front of you: 
By Windows default It chooses the size of the paging file itself and it is located on the system disk. In fact, it is recommended to place this file on any partition different from the system one.
Please note that the paging file must be located on the system disk to correctly record debugging information ( memory dump). If we disable it, then in the event of a system failure (the appearance of the so-called blue screen of death), we will not be able to analyze the memory dump and find the culprit of the BSoD. But for those who don't even know what a memory dump is, this is unlikely to be a problem. Most are looking cause of BSoD by error code on blue screen. In any case, you will have to choose between performance and the ability to collect data about problems that have arisen.
So first we remove the page file from drive C. To do this, select this disk and put a marker in the “Without paging file” item - click the “Set” button: To increase computer performance, the original The page file size should be 1.5-2 times the size of the physical RAM. Those. if I have 768 MB of RAM on my computer, it means in the “ Original size“I set 1152 MB.
If you don’t know how much RAM is on your PC, you can do the following: right-click on the “My Computer” icon – “Properties” – on the “General” tab at the bottom, look at the amount of RAM: 
It is better to limit the maximum size to the same number as indicated in the “Original size” field. This will avoid fragmentation of the page file.
So, we set the size of the paging file. In my example I highlight drive D– I put a marker in the “Custom size” item (in Windows 7 this item is called “Specify size”) – I enter the number 1152 in the “Original size” box – I enter it in the “Maximum size” box (by the way, all values entered here must be are multiples of 8) – press the “Set” – “OK” button: 
Reboot your computer for all changes to take effect.
Windows allows you to create a paging file on multiple drives at once. But I wouldn’t recommend that you do this - you still won’t be able to increase your computer’s performance this way.
In conclusion, I would like to say that all the steps to configure the paging file described in the article make sense if you have weak computer and it doesn't have enough RAM. If your PC has 4 GB (or more) of RAM installed, I don’t see much point in setting up the page file. In such a situation, it would be even better to do the opposite - disable it (in the “Virtual Memory” window, put a checkmark in the “Without paging file” item and click the “Set” button).
RAM is one of the key elements of any computer. It is in it that every moment happens great amount calculations necessary for the operation of the machine. Programs with which the user is connected are also loaded there. this moment interacts. However, its volume is clearly limited, and it is often not enough to launch and operate “heavy” programs, which is why the computer begins to freeze. To help RAM on the system partition, a special file big size, called the "swap file".
It often has a significant volume. To distribute resources evenly work program Some of them are transferred to the swap file. We can say that it is an addition to the computer's RAM, significantly expanding it. Balancing the ratio of RAM and page file sizes helps to achieve good computer performance.
Changing the paging file size in the Windows 7 operating system
It is a misconception that increasing the size of the paging file leads to increasing RAM. It's all about the speed of writing and reading - RAM boards are tens and hundreds of times faster than regular hard disk and even solid state drive.
To increase the paging file you will not need to use third party programs, all actions will be performed by the built-in tools of the operating system. To perform the instructions below, the current user must have administrator rights.
- Double click on the shortcut "My computer" on the computer desktop. In the header of the window that opens, click the button once "Open Control Panel."
- On the right top corner change the display parameters of elements to "Small Icons". In the list of settings presented, you need to find the item "System" and click on it once.
- In the window that opens, in the left column we find the item "Advanced system settings", click on it once, answer the question issued by the system with consent.
- A window will open "Properties of the system". You must select a tab "Additionally", in it in the section "Performance" press the button once "Options".
- After clicking, another small window will open, in which you also need to go to the tab "Additionally". In chapter "Virtual memory" click on the button "Change".
- Finally, we got to the last window, which directly contains the settings of the paging file itself. Most likely, by default there will be a checkmark at the top "Automatically select paging file size". You need to remove it and then select "Specify size" and enter your details. After this you need to press the button "Set"
- After all the manipulations you need to press the button "OK". The operating system will ask you to reboot; you must follow its requirements.
A little about choosing a size. Different users have put forward different theories about the required size of the paging file. If we calculate the arithmetic mean of all opinions, then the most optimal size will be equal to 130-150% of the amount of RAM.
A competent change to the paging file should slightly increase the stability of the operating system by distributing the resources of running applications between RAM and the swap file. If the machine has 8+ GB of RAM installed, then most often the need for this file simply disappears, and it can be disabled in the last settings window. A swap file 2-3 times larger than the amount of RAM will only slow down the system due to the difference in data processing speed between the RAM sticks and the hard drive.