forcing Vista

How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
<> wrote:

> How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?



No forcing is required. That's what it does.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"b11_" <> wrote in message
news:AE0B6117-D6D1-4A6C-9F67-...
> But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap
> file!

Take a trip to Redmond, arrange a meeting with the Project manager and the
team of programmers responsible for the design of the memory module and see
if they can adjust it just for you. Report back your progress when
completed.

Just FYI


> __________________________________________________ _______________
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> > How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
>>
>>
>>
>> No forcing is required. That's what it does.
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
>> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>>

Because if it did, it would temporarily freeze.

--

Steve Easton



"b11_" <> wrote in message
news:AE0B6117-D6D1-4A6C-9F67-...
> But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap file!
> __________________________________________________ _______________
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> > How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
>>
>>
>>
>> No forcing is required. That's what it does.
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
>> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>>

Hi,

Just because you see swap file "in use" does not mean it is active use. Many
applications reserve an allocation of pages when started, even if they are
not actively used the space will remain reserved and often the program will
direct that some data be placed there. Vista, by design, will use the
physical memory for active processes.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"b11_" <> wrote in message
news:AE0B6117-D6D1-4A6C-9F67-...
> But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap
> file!
> __________________________________________________ _______________
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> > How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
>>
>>
>>
>> No forcing is required. That's what it does.
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
>> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>>

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:14:01 -0800, b11_
<> wrote:

> But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap file!


Exactly what makes you think that? My guess is that you are confusing
page file *allocation* with page file use. Applications often
pre-allocate memory for *potential* use, and in many cases, that
potential use never becomes actual use.


> __________________________________________________ _______________
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
> > <> wrote:
> >
> > > How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
> >
> >
> >
> > No forcing is required. That's what it does.
> >
> > --
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
> >

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

You could turn swapping off. I have 4GB of RAM (only 3.25GB is available
for use though) and I turned off swapping for a while. I can't say I
noticed any real difference in performance.

I have a RAID drive setup, so swapping is pretty fast and I have 4GB
ReadyBoost which is the maximum size for it.


"b11_" <> wrote in message
news:7A30F89E-F6E4-495B-B782-...
> How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?

Vista is slow on any current technology hardware...

Vista is stupidly designed.

"Song Tae-Hyun" <> wrote in message
news:5F9BF560-C15C-4D35-B6CD-...
> You could turn swapping off. I have 4GB of RAM (only 3.25GB is available
> for use though) and I turned off swapping for a while. I can't say I
> noticed any real difference in performance.
>
> I have a RAID drive setup, so swapping is pretty fast and I have 4GB
> ReadyBoost which is the maximum size for it.
>
>
> "b11_" <> wrote in message
> news:7A30F89E-F6E4-495B-B782-...
>> How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
>

I am using a utility that displays "in use" and displays "allocated". The
computer has 2 gigs of installed memory. There is usually about 1 to 1.3 gigs
of free memory, 5-10 mbs of page file in use and 125-150 mbs allocated. Why
doesn't the O.S. use some free memory instead of the page file? What can one
do to force the O.S. to use free memory before using the page file?
__________________________________________________ ______
"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:14:01 -0800, b11_
> <> wrote:
>
> > But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap file!
>
>
> Exactly what makes you think that? My guess is that you are confusing
> page file *allocation* with page file use. Applications often
> pre-allocate memory for *potential* use, and in many cases, that
> potential use never becomes actual use.
>
>
> > __________________________________________________ _______________
> >
> > "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
> >
> > > On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
> > > <> wrote:
> > >
> > > > How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > No forcing is required. That's what it does.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> > > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
> > >
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:11:00 -0800, b11_
<> wrote:

> I am using a utility that displays "in use" and displays "allocated". The
> computer has 2 gigs of installed memory. There is usually about 1 to 1.3 gigs
> of free memory, 5-10 mbs of page file in use and 125-150 mbs allocated.


So as I suspected, you are using almost nothing of the page file
(5-10MB). Allocated page file is *not* used page file. Space in the
page file is allocated in advance of use, when Windows thinks that it
*may* need to use that space later. That speeds up access to it, if it
does need it later.


> Why
> doesn't the O.S. use some free memory instead of the page file?


It does. Your numbers above show that almost nothing in the page file
is being used. There is nothing wrong and nothing to fix.


> What can one
> do to force the O.S. to use free memory before using the page file?


No forcing is necessary. That's the way it works.

By the way, if the numbers you report above are representative of what
your typical use is, you have substantially more RAM than you need for
the applications you run. If you never need to use more than 1GB, you
would see the same performance with only 1GB installed.




> __________________________________________________ ______
> "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:14:01 -0800, b11_
> > <> wrote:
> >
> > > But Vista is _not_ using the available free memory before using the swap file!
> >
> >
> > Exactly what makes you think that? My guess is that you are confusing
> > page file *allocation* with page file use. Applications often
> > pre-allocate memory for *potential* use, and in many cases, that
> > potential use never becomes actual use.
> >
> >
> > > __________________________________________________ _______________
> > >
> > > "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:24:04 -0800, b11_
> > > > <> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > How can one force Vista to use free memory instead of the swap file?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > No forcing is required. That's what it does.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> > > > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
> > > >
> >
> > --
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
> >

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup