Pagefile

[micker377]

H.D. plenty of room. 8 Gig memory. Win 8.1 up to date.
I have a "widget" that shows mem, CPU, and page use. Lately I've recently noticed that when my computer starts slowing down (about two hours), my Page file usage is above 50%! This is under light usage, email, online articles, etc. The only way to get it back down, is to reboot! H.D.
SMART is O.K. Memory diag. is O.K.
I've tried changing Page file usage from "All drives controlled by system", C\(root) only system controlled, and C\ set high and low parameters.
It doesn't change usage constantly climbing, and never going back down.
With XP, I used set usage, since Win 7, I've left it at "System Controlled". Is this something new with Win 8, or something that may be indicating a problem?
My normal operation is "Sleep" throughout the day, rather than cold boot every few hours. Been doing it this way since Win 3.1, and never had this problem!
Any suggestions?

 

[rclarke250]

what browser are you using? and when was the last time you cleaned out the temp. files,cookies,and web history?

 

[micker377]

I.E. 11, or Fire Fox 35. Makes no difference. I run CCleaner about once a week.

 

[goombawaho]

Install Process Explorer and look at the system vitals while this is happening - CPU, Memory, IO stats. In a machine with 8GB of RAM, I can't imaging all the memory being used up.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[micker377]

goomb:
That's why I am confused. Right now, I am at 35% page file usage. My memory shows 2945 used, and 5258 free! CPU usage is around 25%.
Instead of Process Explorer, I use a program called "What's Running" that shows the program usage in more detail. The only "high" usage is Windows! 70X%

What would happen if I ran with NO PageFile?

 

[xwb]

Is the page file fragmented? This normally happens when the pagefile isn't allocated at the start and keeps on growing. I normally fix the size of the pagefile to say 8192Mb instead of allowing it to grow. That way, you know that the pagefile is contiguous.

What I normally do is to create a partition of 8 to 16Gb, just for the pagefile. Nothing else in the partition will use that partition except for the pagefile: that way you will know it is not a pagefile problem.

 

[micker377]

xwb:
But the pagefile is deleted with every reboot. So a new pagefile wouldn't be fragmented. It would be contiguous with every start. Since I have 8gig of memory, and never use more than 50% of it, I shouldn't be using the pagefile at all!

 

[Nelviticus]

The page file isn't deleted at every reboot, that would slow things down as Windows would have to write a multi-gigabyte file every time. Unless you turn it off completely it's always being used, no matter how much memory you have - it's part of how Windows works.

The important question isn't "why is my page file usage high when my computer sloes down?" but "why does my computer slow down?"

If it's due to lots of things trying to use the hard drive at the same time this can be tricky to troubleshoot on Windows 7 (with Win 8+ it's much easier). You can try running Resource Monitor and having a look in the Disk section. Could be an AV scan, Windows updates, anything.

N.

Nelviticus

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, "something" is causing this, not just bad karma. My Win7 PC with 8GB of RAM never touches the page file as you are describing to actually give a slowdown.

Maybe time to use Autoruns and/or MSCONFIG to disable some items, reboot and see if things are better. Then run autoruns again and change the things that are disabled, reboot, observe. Things I would disable and test: Windows Search, A-V, Windows Update, other programs that have entries in startup.

You don't by chance have an older HP printer installed???? If you have the HP CUE service listed in your services, turn that OFF. It will cause computers to act like they are hung up. Maddening if you have ever seen it.
Link

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[micker377]

This isn't a mission critical unit, so I can afford to "play"! Last night I turned off ALL pagefile (2 HD's.) #1. C:\ boot and system, #2.HD has 4 partitions.
So far, no problems. Everything works fine. I'm waiting to see what WON'T work to see WHAT is filling my pagefile.
My mem use is at 25% - 40% as it runs through the day. Occasionally (like when booting up a browser), it will go to 100% for a second or two. But once there, like now, it is back down to 25%.
I wonder if I'm fighting myself. It may just be that this old AND two core CPU just can't keep up with Win 8.1.

 

[cdogg]

The pagefile is one of the most often misunderstood Windows component. If the amount of RAM could eliminate the need for a page file, then Microsoft would have designed a version of Windows that doesn't use one, especially by now. Obviously they haven't, and I don't recommend disabling it. It appears that you were just looking around and noticed that pagefile usage was above 50%. That number doesn't tell you anything about current activity. So when your system begins running slow, you need to look elsewhere.

Grab the Sysinternals tool pack if you don't already have it and run Process Explorer (procexp.exe). Gives more details than Windows task manager and should help you narrow down the culprit when the system is running slow. If you're still convinced it's the page file, then use Performance Monitor under the Computer Management console in Windows to monitor page file writes. You'll need to add a memory counter such as Page Reads/sec. The link below describes the counters in more detail:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768048.aspx#XSLTsection131121120120

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

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[goombawaho]

I'm waiting to see what WON'T work to see WHAT is filling my pagefile

Not sure it can troubleshot in reverse like that!!! Like chicken and egg.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.