Solution #1
posted on Aug 15, 2008
Rank: Wiz
Rating: 85%, 20 votes
Something you may wish to try is increasing the size of your Virtual Memory Paging File. This is simple enough to do, and will work if your laptop freezes because it is deleting Virtual Memory.
Another thing you may want to do is set the computer to clear the Paging File when you shut it off. This involves editing the registry, but I have done it myself and it did not harm my computer.
Increasing VM (virtual memory):
1) Go into Control Panel
2) If in Category View, choose Performance and Maintenance, then System. If not in Category View, choose System.
3) Go to the Advanced tab.
4) Click on Settings under Performance
5) Choose the Advanced tab
4) Under Virtual Memory, click Change.
5) If you have multiple hard drives, you can increase the page file on all or one of them. The Total System Page File is what matters. Either way, increase the page file like this:
If you play DVD movies on your laptop, you may require as much as 8 gigabytes of storage. DVD's hold exactly that, so for smoothest play, make the page file a minimum of 8 gigabytes and a maximum of 10 gigabytes. The fields are measured in megabytes, and a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes. So for a minimum of 8 gigabytes, enter 8192. For the maximum, enter 10240. Click Set.
You need considerably less for YouTube and other internet movies, and for gaming. Your page file only needs to be two to 4 gigabytes. 2048 megabytes is 2 gigabytes, so enter 2048 in the minimum size. The maximum is going to be set at 4096 megabytes. Click Set after entering that.
Those above are just my recommendations for size. Feel free to adjust them based on your hard drive size.
Then click OK on all the menus to close them. Your computer may need to be restarted.
To have the computer clear the VM at shutdown:
Go into Registry Editor- Start, Run, Regedit.
Navigate to this value, and click on it:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Several values (called Keys) will appear on the right. You are looking for the one titled "ClearPageFileAtShutdown". Double-click on it. Change it to a 1.
If it does not exist, you may create it (right-click on Memory Management on the folder view. Navigate to new, then DWORD value).
Title it ClearPageFileAtShutdown . Then set the value to a 1.
Your computer will need to be restarted.
Hope that helps, jpc1994.