Is Virtual Memory Required?

I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.

Al

"Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.
>
> Al
>
>


I do not think that you should disable it..

--
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"Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.

There is no good reason to disable virtual memory. Windows will always run
better with it than without it - its designed that way. The amount of
physical RAM you have makes no difference. I have 4 GB also and wouldn't
dream of disabling VM.

All the documentation I read says, even though it's tempting, don't disable
it.

--
BobF.
"Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.
>
> Al
>
>

"Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.
>
> Al
>
>

I agree with the other posts. No need or benefit from disabling it.

If anything, you'll hinder some things in the OS.

Remember, Windows will swap unused data to the swap file freeing up real RAM
for other uses. Even parts of itself (mainly the kernel.)

So disabling it is actually counter productive.

Mic

Hi,

In short yes, because much software requires an allocation of pages when
initialized, regardless of whether it is later used or not. Disabling it may
result in 'out of memory' errors despite how much physical memory is
present.

--
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

"Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.
>
> Al
>
>

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:48:27 -0700, Alfred Kaufmann
<> wrote:

> I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.



Disabling it in either XP or Vista is a very bad idea. Note two
things:

1. There is no possible benefit to disabling it. If it's not needed,
it won't be used.

2. Windows preallocates memory to the Page File in anticipation of
possibly needing to use it (that's almost certainly what you are
seeing reported, not what is actually being used). If you disable the
Page File, those allocations get made to real memory instead, and the
result is that you can never use that part of your RAM.

You may have no problems disabling it in XP, but that was because 2GB
of RAM was so much more than you probably needed that the amount doing
so locked out didn't hurt you. And disabling it didn't help you in any
way.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Disabling virtual memory will kill some programs that look for it, even if
they never use it.
Leave it enabled and set to a Windows managed size.
I usually install a small, HDD that I use just for virtual memory.
I have dozens of older HDDS from 5-20GB that are not really finctional as
primary drives, so I use them for such purposes rather than tossing them.
By having a dedicated HDD for the virtual memory cache, you don't have to
worry about it slowing down your main HDD.
Not everyone has a need for that, but it works for me.
--
A Professional Amateur...If anyone knew it all, none of would be here!

Change Alpha to Numeric to reply
"Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.
>
> Al
>
>

Um, that should be "In short, no......".

--
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

"Rick Rogers" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hi,
>
> In short yes, because much software requires an allocation of pages when
> initialized, regardless of whether it is later used or not. Disabling it
> may result in 'out of memory' errors despite how much physical memory is
> present.
>
> --
> 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
>
> "Alfred Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>I have 4GB of memory on my Vista Home Premium system and I see that
>> virtual memory is still being used - would I be safe in disabling
>> virtual memory? I know when I ran Windows XP I had no problems
>> disabling the virtual memory when I had just 2GB.
>>
>> Al
>>
>>
>

"Ken Blake, MVP" <> wrote in message
news...
> You may have no problems disabling it in XP, but that was because 2GB
> of RAM was so much more than you probably needed that the amount doing
> so locked out didn't hurt you. And disabling it didn't help you in any
> way.

Indeed. Disabling the page file results in less real RAM available to you.
You can't "disable virtual memory". With no page file, Windows will use
real RAM for swapping and virtual memory, resulting in less RAM for your
apps.

Bottom line is: leave it alone and let Windows manage the size.