Do you use the Paging File ? Why yes, why no ?

Discussion in 'polls' started by blacknight, May 5, 2015.

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Do you use the Paging File ? Why yes, why no ?

  1. Yes

    41 vote(s)
    78.8%
  2. No

    11 vote(s)
    21.2%
  1. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    Do you use the Paging File ? Obviously if your RAM is limited you' ll use paging file. But I want to know if you have much RAM and anyway you use it or no, and why. I'm interested about system performance using or no the paging file.
     
  2. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I've always used a paging file. I have 4GB of RAM install in the latop I mostly use, but only 2.96GB is usable due to running a 32 bit version of Windows (it's a computer with a 64 bit processor, but this Windows install was originally on a 32 bit machine).

    I don't think I've ever had enough RAM installed to not use a paging file. Even if I'm running a 64 bit version of Windows and therefore can use all 4GB of RAM, I'm not sure if that would be enough for me to disable the page file.

    I set my page file to a static size - with the recommend size Windows suggests set for both the minimum and maximum size, so that size of it never changes.
     
  3. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    No. I have 5,5 GB usable RAM. My Windows 8.1 x64 takes about 450 MB RAM after startup, so there is plenty left, so why bother with pagefile.
    With pagefile/faststartup/superfetch enabled, loading times are much more better, but as for the overall performance, it feels smoother without it.
    I use Cleanmem, my PC takes about 1.2 GB and up to 4GB when gaming, so I do not miss it. I tried to disable it on PC with 1.7 GB, it resulted in BSOD.
     

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  4. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    For Moderators: creating this poll I forgot to check " Display votes publicly ", please, may to do it ? Thanks.
     
  5. Rmus

    Rmus Exploit Analyst

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    Yes.

    I don't do much tweaking anymore (since Win2000 days). My WinXP system with 4GB RAM runs fine and fast with no performance issues (although those are relative judgments, I know!).

    ----
    rich
     
  6. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Yes I use it. I've set 1 GB pagefile on my SSD while using 16 GB of memory. I set it up for just in case system or programs need it.
     
  7. krustytheclown2

    krustytheclown2 Registered Member

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    I do have a 2gb swap partition on my SSD just because, but it never gets used since I have 8gb of RAM and set swappiness to the lowest setting. It also slows everything down (less so with an SSD) and constant writes really wear out an SSD.
     
  8. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    For those with 32-bit OS not using all the RAM, I believe a RAM disk or special cache program can utilitze the rest of it.

    Personally, I keep a paging file just in case for legacy applications, and because 8 GB is taken up by the said RAM disk and a further 4 GB by each virtual machine.
     
  9. wasgij6

    wasgij6 Registered Member

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    Here is a good video about the paging file
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VDP5TCAK2c
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 5, 2015
  10. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    I always used it, but now I'm testing how my system works alone. And It seems to be a bit faster.
     
  11. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    I have 16GB RAM W7x64 & have it set to 800MB. The minimum without turning it off. Why? Because occasionally ~2-3 times a year I'd have some weird OS problem. And they all traced back to having no pagefile.
     
  12. Paranoid Eye

    Paranoid Eye Registered Member

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    I found disabling PF to be pretty bad while my system can cope if I play a game a few times I can expect bsods or worse I find my ram filled up to the max and then things can slow down especially if you have left it on all the time ! Its apparently just how the way windows operates from win 7+

    Switching back in PF it cured everything, no more sluggish actions or bsods on windows at all, from the articles I read around the net suggested PF is best left on.

    If people are concerned about there PF holding valuable data ie passwords/histroy etc then I would advice FDE or virtual machines within a hidden container!
     
  13. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    Disabling it is bad for applications that expect it to be there. It really is no big deal, since it is rarely touched anyway.
     
  14. luciddream

    luciddream Registered Member

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    Or simply enable a Local Policy setting to wipe your pagefile every time you shutdown. Disabling it can lead to a variety of problems while leading to no benefits whatsoever really. Any gain in footprint is likely a placebo effect.
     
  15. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    That will result in a prolong shutdown time and stressing up the HDD. I have never had any problems when it was disabled, probably in XP. o_O
     
  16. Paranoid Eye

    Paranoid Eye Registered Member

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    Yes a better way I have privazer scheduled to wipe my pf but not during shutdown, but its a feature request I have asked privazer guy to perhaps do in future builds, hopefully he does :)

    I do have a slightly longer delayed shut down as a result but its not to bad as long as you use an SSD hdd.
     
  17. subhrobhandari

    subhrobhandari Registered Member

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    I disable it. I have 4 GB RAM in a core i3, and it seems to be faster, just a little bit if I disable. I have stopped using paging file around 3 years ago, the only problems I have seen

    1. A lot games crash without pagefile, though not the general programs
    2. If I use a lot tabs in Firefox/Chromium, along with videos/heavy stuff running, the system gets pretty slow.
    3. You dont have crash dumps in case something goes wrong.

    But other than that, the boot seems faster, the overall system seems snappier.
     
  18. luciddream

    luciddream Registered Member

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    hmm... ya know know that I think about it I don't really have any idea how long my shutdowns take, as I tend to walk away after doing it. I don't sit there and count down the time. But now I feel compelled to.
     
  19. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    Very good idea !
     
  20. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    Wiping during the shutdown slows the shutdown, too long ! I don't like this option. I disabled the pagefile and after three days I have not problems, and my system is faster. I'll see.
     
  21. Paranoid Eye

    Paranoid Eye Registered Member

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    Check your ram usage after a few hours use if you disable PF, does your ram fill up to almost full ?

    I found this was occuring much more when coming in and out of gaming sessions online..... or even if I left my PC switched on and used it for general stuff ie movies and surfing my 16gig hit 14-15gig and would not go down.

    Its nice to have it switched off but leaving it on fixed the above issue, also the bsods and slow downs after 1-2 days or leaving the pc on vanished.

    As for shutdowns I do not notice much loss perhaps an extra 20-30 seconds sometimes mind you my PF gets cleaned towards the end just not during shutdown time, privazer is a life saver and it can clean your PF with 1 level pass making it hard if not impossible to get to any data.
     
  22. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    I am on x64 OS, and I use the PF.
     
  23. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I wanted to disable it, but then I read that it might cause some problems, so it's still enabled with a maximum size of 4GB.
     
  24. Mr.X

    Mr.X Registered Member

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    I encourage you to test by yourself. I believe the impact (negative/positive) it might have depends upon your hardware and software configuration, definitely.
    I disabled it 5 days ago and so far everything is fine.
     
  25. syrinx

    syrinx Registered Member

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    I use a very small pagefile on my system. I found that when I didn't make use of one I would encounter (occasional) random BSOD's at boot. With a 256 MB pagefile in place, this never happens. It's silly as my OS uses less than 1.5 GB (I try to keep it @ 1) at launch with my security software in place and generally less than 2 GB unless I'm running a VM or a game but have much more physical memory available. Since restoring the pagefile.sys I've not had a single BSOD on this OS so I've just kept it that way and so while my answer is yes as a result [I shouldn't have to have one (I'd rather not)] my setup disagrees with my opinion for some reason that I've never been able to narrow down and so there it is. Granted the last time I tested it was well over a year ago but I'm not fond of the idea of troubleshooting bsod's over and over when simply enabling a mini pagefile has solved my specific issue (for whatever reason).
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2015
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