Improve
Swapfile Performance
If you have
more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably
improve your performance. It basically makes sure that
your PC
uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file)
before it starts using the swap file.
- Go to
Start then Run
- Type
“msconfig.exe” then ok
- Click
on the System.ini tab
- Expand
the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
- Click
on new then in the blank box
type”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″
- Click
OK
- Restart
PC
|
PageDefrag v2.32
By Mark Russinovich
Published: November 1, 2006
Introduction
One of the limitations of the Windows NT/2000 defragmentation interface is
that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access.
Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your
paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry
file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation
related to file fragmentation in a system.
PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial
defragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging
files and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. In addition, it
defragments event log files and Windows 2000/XP hibernation files (where system
memory is saved when you hibernate a laptop).
PageDefrag works on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and
Server 2003.
Installation and Use
When you run PageDefrag (pagedfrg.exe) you will be presented a
listbox that tells you how many clusters make up your paging files, event log
files, and Registry hives (SAM, SYSTEM, SYSTEM.ALT, SECURITY, SOFTWARE,
.DEFAULT), as well as how many fragments those files are in. If you feel that
these files are fragmented enough to warrant a shot at defragmenting them, or if
you want to defragment them at every boot, select the appropriate radio button
choice and click OK.
When you direct PageDefrag to defragment, the next time the system
boots it will attempt to do so. Immediately after CHKDSK examines your hard
drives PageDefrag uses the standard file defragmentation APIs (see my
Inside Windows NT Disk Defragmenting page for documentation of these APIs)
to defragment the files. As it processes each file PageDefrag will
print on the boot-time startup screen the file name and its success at
defragmenting it. If it is successful at reducing the fragmentation it will tell
you the number of clusters the file started with and the number it consists of
after the defragmentation.
In some cases PageDefrag may be unable to reduce fragmentation on
one or more of the files, and it will indicate so on the boot-time Blue Screen.
This can happen either because there is not enough space on the drive for
defragmentation, or the free space itself is highly fragmented. For the best
results you should use PageDefrag in conjunction with a commercial
defragmentation utility or my free
Contig defragmenter.
Command-Line Options
You can run PageDefrag non-interactively by specifying a
command-line option for the setting you want:
usage: pagedefrag [-e | -o | -n] [-t <seconds>]
-e
Defrag every boot
-o
Defrag once
-n
Never defrag
-t
Set countdown to specified number of seconds
Defragmenting A Page File
There are two approaches to
defragmenting a page file. One is free; the other costs you some money but is
well worth the expense. The phrase 'by design' crops up a lot when talking about
XP and here it comes again. By design, Windows XP will not allow a page file to
be defragmented when the
computer is online. Online in this case does not mean when it's connected to
the internet, but when it is powered on and the operating system has been loaded
and ready for use. This is why you can defrag 1000 times from inside XP, check
the defrag log page file section and it will never show it being defragmented.
To get around this problem using the free method, it's necessary to:
-
Eliminate the fragmented
pagefile
-
Create a temporary page file on
another drive
-
Reboot
-
Defragment the drive that held
the original page file
-
Eliminate the temporary page
file
-
Recreate the original page file
-
Reboot
It sounds worse than it really is,
but it's easily accomplished using the Virtual Memory property sheet and the
standard disk defragmenter utility that ships with XP. If you don't have a
secondary drive to create the temporary paging file just eliminate the current
paging file, reboot, recreate the paging file and reboot once more.
If you're willing to spend a few
dollars, read about Diskeeper at the
Executive Software
International, Inc site. Diskeeper is actually the defragmenter utility that
ships with XP. If you're wondering why you'd pay good money for something you
already have, the version that ships with XP is a stripped down version that
doesn't include a fraction of the features that the full Diskeeper product
contains, including the ability to defragment paging files using a method called
Boot-Time Defragmentation. The links below will convince you of the desirability
of upgrading the included XP defragmenter utility.
The Limitations of the Disk Defragmenter Tool in Windows XP (Q314848)
Diskeeper vs. Built-In Defragmenter
Just so there is no confusion or
doubt, I have no stake in Executive
Software International, Inc. or Diskeeper. There may be other products out
there that do an equal or better job, but I have experience using Diskeeper and
highly recommend it for use with XP. Nuff' said.
