Move the page file from system drive

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  The page file is the area of a hard drive which Windows reserves for use as virtual
memory when there is more data than can be stored in the actual physical memory
of the system.

Page file access is extremely slow as compared to standard memory, since the hard
disk, as a mechanical device, is slower to read and write information than the purely
electronic memory. There are still some ways to optimize your page file use so it is a
bit less of a burden on your system, however.

One of the best of these methods, provided you have two physical hard drives, is to
move the page file off the disk which hosts the Windows system files. This ensures
that Windows is not constantly accessing the disk for the system files as well as the
page file.

To do this in Windows XP:

Right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties.'

Select the 'advanced' tab.

Under 'performance' choose the 'settings' button.

Select the 'advanced' tab again and under 'virtual memory' select 'change.'


The virtual memory window allows you to select and change the allocation of hard
disk space to be used as virtual memory for your system. For best performance; if
you have two physical hard disks of roughly equivalent speed, remove the page file
from your system disk (c:) and place it on the other drive.

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