Bright Ideas Computing - Kerrville, Texas

The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Kerrville
Texas

830-895-5016

The Holy Grail of Speeding Up Windows XP...

Defragment Your Swap File

Remember how fast your Windows XP computer used to run when it was brand new? But now it seems to run as slow as molasses even though you've only installed a few new programs.

There are a number of things that can cause your PC to run slow such as spyware applications or even trojan virus infections. But if you regularly scan your PC for spyware and your anti-virus software is always kept up-to-date and your PC still seems to operate much slower than in its more youthful days, then maybe defragmenting its virtual memory's swap file and hard disk drive will restore some of its performance.

What is a swap file? Windows sets aside a special section of your hard drive to use as a temporary storage location into which it can place files that are not being used at the moment and from which it can quickly retrieve them when they are needed again. This technique is necessary if your PC has a limited amount of random access memory (RAM) so it can open new programs and then switch back and forth between them using the "swap" file.

So here's the rub! If your PCs hard disk drive becomes fragmented, then many times the swap file will also become fragmented. If the swap file becomes fragmented then your computer's performance will degrade and your PCs hard drive may seem to thrash about when opening and closing programs. Most people believe that simply defragmenting their hard drive will restore their speedy performance. Although that will help, it won't defragment the swap file.

How does one defragment their swap file? This requires several steps and some down-time for your computer because the entire process could take an hour or more. I'll outline the steps to perform this operation but please

click here to read our disclaimer at the bottom of this page before you embark on this task. You can call us at 830-895-5016 for an on-site consultation if we service your geographical area and if you are afraid to perform this operation yourself.

Let's get started!

1. Please

click here to read our disclaimer at the bottom of this page.

2. Make sure your PC is equipped with at least 256MB of RAM. If it has less than 256MB of RAM then STOP and DO NOT continue with this article until you have installed additional RAM.

3. Double-click the System icon in your Control Panel, select the Advanced tab, and click Settings in the Performance section. Choose the Advanced tab and then click Change to access the following Virtual Memory window.

(click to enlarge image)

(click to enlarge image)

4. Choose the No Paging File radio button. (Once again - if your PC has less than 256MB of RAM then STOP and DO NOT continue with this article until you have installed additional RAM.) Click the Set button followed by clicking OK until all windows are closed.

5. Restart your computer.

6. Click the My Computer icon and then right-click your Local Disk (C:) drive and select Properties. Choose the Tools tab and click the Check Now button in the Error-checking section. Click the Start button in the resulting window and if it asks if you want to schedule a scan during your next restart, then select Yes and then restart your PC again. After your PC has successfully completed the error checking process it's time to perform your defragmentation.

(click to enlarge image)

(click to enlarge image)

7. From the same Tools tab of the Properties of your Local Disk (C:), click the Defragment Now button in the Defragmentation section to access the following Disk Defragmenter window.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

8. Make sure your volume C: drive is selected and then click the Defragment button. Now go get yourself a cup of coffee or watch television until the defragmentation process is complete. If you notice that the defragmentation process continuously restarts and never seems to finish, then you'll need to perform this defragmentation procedure by rebooting your computer into Safe Mode.

9. Restart your PC after the defragmentation process has completed and then go back through steps 2 and 3 but this time you will select the Custom Size radio button and then multiply the amount of RAM your computer has and enter that result in both the Initial Size (MB) and the Maximum Size (MB) text boxes.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

10. Click the Set button followed by clicking the OK button and then restart your PC.

Let's recap what you have done so far. You have eliminated your swap file, checked your hard disk drive for errors, defragmented your hard drive, and created a clean unfragmented swap file based on contiguous hard disk drive space.

Congratulations! Your PC will thank you and you'll be rewarded with faster performance.

Disclaimer
Please make sure that you possess the fundamental and required skill sets before you implement any advice or attempt to perform any troubleshooting steps we, or other websites, might recommend. You should also be advised that we have no control over how you perform any troubleshooting steps nor do we have any control over the content of other third-party websites you might visit that are listed in our weekly newsletter. We also do not know if you have patched your computer with the latest security updates nor do we know if your anti-virus definition files are fully up-to-date.

Therefore, in no event shall Bright Ideas Computing or any of its third-party product or service providers be liable to any person for any special, incidental, indirect, consequential, or punitive damages of any kind, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, loss of data, or lost profits, in connection with any advice provided by Bright Ideas Computing, damages resulting from visiting third-party websites or damages resulting from implementing any advice from those third-party websites, whether or not you are advised of the possibility of such damages.