Windows XP contains several tweakable memory settings in the registry, one of which is the DisablePagingExecutive registry key. This controls whether the operating system will transfer its essential driver and kernel files to the ‘virtual memory’ (the page file on the hard disk). It defaults to allowing this.

Obviously, transferring portions of the system to hard drive memory can considerably slow things down, and it appears that Windows XP does this periodically, whether or not the system is actually low on physical memory (RAM).

If you have 256MB of system memory or more, try this registry tweak to force Windows to keep its operating data in main memory: (more…)

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To save on Random Access Memory (RAM), Windows uses your Page File as a sort of cache. This can slow down your PC’s overall performance. To remedy this situation, Windows XP has an option that allows users to clear the Page File when you shut down Windows. While this tweak tends to lengthen the shutdown time, it does have its performance benefits.

To set the computer to clear the page file without directly editing the registry is:

1. Click on the Start button
2. Go to the Control Panel
3. Administrative Tools
4. Local Security Policy
5. Local Policies (more…)

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Windows Vista “out of memory” errors are intimately connected with the way the operating system manages virtual address space. On Microsoft’s latest operating system, applications have their very own private virtual address space. You must understand that there is no correlation between the virtual address space available to a certain program and the total volume of physical memory installed on the computer. On 32-bit platforms, applications are generally limited under a 2 GB boundary as the maximum size of the virtual address space. In this context, the “out of memory” errors in Windows Vista are generated by applications that have eaten up all the virtual address space allocated to them.

“Every memory allocation, file mapping, or library that is loaded by an application consumes space in this virtual address space. When the application consumes all its virtual address space, any additional such operations fail. Although all applications should be coded to handle memory allocation failures, many applications do not recover correctly from such failures. Therefore, the programs may become unstable or stop responding after they recover from such failures”, Microsoft informed. (more…)

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