OT: Windows Optimization?

[Fyron]

Will said:
Check virtual memory settings. If it's set to be automagically handled by Windows, that should be fine, but it could be messed up. The general rule is to have a swap file twice the size of memory (1gb in your case). Defragmenting the drive helps here too, so your disk doesn't have to jump around a lot when accessing virtual memory that is split into several sections.

Make sure to disable virtual memory _before_ doing the defragmentation, so that the drive can be defragmented as much as possible. Reenable virtual memory after it the defragmentation process is completed. This ensures an even more continuous block of HD clusters for the swap file. Also, you might consider disabling the auto-magic management. It tends to be unnecessary (assuming you have the size set to a large enough amount) and slows down the computer when Windows changes the size of the swap file all the time. You can do this by setting the minimum size to the same value as the maximum size. This will also have the advantage of locking the swap file in place, preventing it from being created in fragmented parts of the hard drive as it is resized. It will stay in the same clusters of the drive. It is critical to defragment before fixing the size of the swap file for this very reason. Having a separate drive partition for the swap file can be handy as well (assuming you fix its size).