swap file
 

Hi, can anybody tell in simple terms, what is the swap
file and how it affects the memory?

regards

The swap file is a file on the hard drive that is used when there is
insufficient memory (ram) to do the operations being run on the PC. This is
called paging which is a technique used by virtual memory operating systems
to help ensure that the data you need is available as quickly as possible.
The operating system copies a certain number of pages from your storage
device to main memory. When a program needs a page that is not in main
memory, the operating system copies the required page into memory and copies
another page back to the disk.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

wrote in message
...
Hi, can anybody tell in simple terms, what is the swap
file and how it affects the memory?

regards

And windows maintains a swapfile, even if you have more tha adequate
physical memory to perform all processes called upon.
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
The swap file is a file on the hard drive that is used when there is
insufficient memory (ram) to do the operations being run on the PC. This
is
called paging which is a technique used by virtual memory operating
systems
to help ensure that the data you need is available as quickly as possible.
The operating system copies a certain number of pages from your storage
device to main memory. When a program needs a page that is not in main
memory, the operating system copies the required page into memory and
copies
another page back to the disk.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

wrote in message
...
Hi, can anybody tell in simple terms, what is the swap
file and how it affects the memory?

regards

A very important point that Dave added. Windows will build a swap file but
if you have sufficient physical memory installed, the swap file will not be
used--it just takes up space on the drive. That is the ideal situation as
the swap file is tremendously slow as compared to ram.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Lil' Dave" wrote in message
...
And windows maintains a swapfile, even if you have more tha adequate
physical memory to perform all processes called upon.
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
The swap file is a file on the hard drive that is used when there is
insufficient memory (ram) to do the operations being run on the PC.
This
is
called paging which is a technique used by virtual memory operating
systems
to help ensure that the data you need is available as quickly as
possible.
The operating system copies a certain number of pages from your storage
device to main memory. When a program needs a page that is not in main
memory, the operating system copies the required page into memory and
copies
another page back to the disk.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

wrote in message
...
Hi, can anybody tell in simple terms, what is the swap
file and how it affects the memory?

regards