Winxp virtual memory?

Hi,

I have Winxp Home and i have 256mb ram. When you go to the 'Custom' setting on virtual memory, what should the initial and the maximum size be set on? I have like 34 processes running. Thanks!

a simple rule is to set it to about 1.5x the amount of your RAM (that will be 768MB)... that will be good enough... but you can set it higher if you want to...

a better way to optimize is to set your initial and the maximum size to the same (static)... that is 768MB for both inital and maximum... to further improve its performance, set the paging file to another physical HDD... NOT a partition of the boot disk... setting it to a partition of the boot disk will decrease the performance...

You have 34 processes running when Windows starts and nothing is running?

34 is many processes. I think that you should clean your computer. Disable unnescesary services. Remove unused applications, etc.

The lesser icon in the systray, the better. :)

Cleaning is always a good idea, but 34 processes is not out of line. Agumon's suggestion is dead on the money! If you are after better performance, more ram is what you need. I went from 256 to 512, and sure enough, it was about twice as efficient!

Ok, i will set it at 768mb and see if i can disable some programs. If that doesn't help, then i will get more ram. Thank you all for your help! :)

if you are looing for good ram at a fair price go to newegg.com

Vanguard is addicted to newegg.com

am not.....

i just like it alot!!!!!!

256 MB Ram on an XP system is half of what is recommended and what most computer manufacturers ship as default. However I'd recommend at least 1 GB of Ram if your system will support that much, that is after you run your virtual memory test.

i had 256 on my old comp and it was always saying "raising virtual memory", i would get a gig, best thing to do.

Ok, i got more ram now 512 so far the computer is running smoothly! Sorry Vanguard382, i bought the ram already. If i came here earlier i would've tried that website, but thank you all again for your help!