Under Windows 11 and Windows 10 you can trim the performance of your system with the optimal setting of the swap file. Netzwelt shows what you have to consider.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 store seldom used areas of the main memory in the swap file pagefile.sys and create space for system components and active processes with this virtual memory.
Depending on the equipment and performance of your computer, you can specifically optimize the settings for the swap file. Because by default Windows uses an automatism that is geared more towards stability than performance.
For a fast SSD with a lot of space, different settings are recommended than for an old and slow system hard drive. And if you have installed several hard drives in your computer, you can also distribute several swap files depending on the drive speed.
Typical scenarios
If your computer has a lot of fast RAM that you rarely use to its full capacity, you can completely deactivate the swap file. If the RAM is running out during operation, Windows will show you a corresponding warning message.
Deactivating the swap file is also recommended if your hard drive is very slow compared to the rest of the system components. If, on the other hand, you have installed a fast SSD, you should activate the swap file for it. If there are several SSDs installed, it makes sense to distribute the virtual memory over the individual SSDs.
Speed up PC
With various programs, tips and tricks you can accelerate your PC and make Windows 10 faster. We’ll tell you what you have to do on this topic page.
You should replace the automatic size management provided by Windows for swap files with a fixed default. The increase in the swap file that would otherwise take place during operation is a brake on performance. A good target size is the size of the built-in memory, given the available hard disk space.
Computers with small SSDs with a size of 128 gigabytes are a special case. Since a fixed swap file occupies valuable storage space, you should either deactivate it there completely or, if necessary, preset it with a small initial size.
The following steps show you how to make the appropriate settings.
Please note: In this tutorial we use screenshots from Windows 10. The steps are the same in Windows 11, however, as only the window design has changed. The specified menus, key combinations and buttons are identical.
” Tip: The best VPN providers for more security and data protection
