Column: How to monitor the health of your PC

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain (More info?)

New Column: How to monitor the health of your PC

Columnist Mitch Tulloch explains how to use the tools in the Windows XP Help
and Support Center and third-party programs to check your computer’s system
health.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx

Ask questions or post comments about the article here.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thanks,
--
Kathie Werner
Tech editor, vendor [MS]

 

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain (More info?)

"Kathie Werner" <KathieWerner@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>New Column: How to monitor the health of your PC
>
>Columnist Mitch Tulloch explains how to use the tools in the Windows XP Help
>and Support Center and third-party programs to check your computer’s system
>health.
>
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx
>
>Ask questions or post comments about the article here.
>
>This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>
>Thanks,

This part of the column:

"• Move the paging file there. A well-known method for improving
performance on a Windows-based computer is to move the paging file
(pagefile.sys) from its usual location on drive C to its own separate
partition on a separate physical drive."

is completely, totally, absolutely and utterly bonkers.

#1: With 2 physical hard drives the optimal configuration for Windows
XP is to configure a paging file on *both* drives. Windows will use
whichever drive is optimal for each specific paging operation.

#2: The presence of a pagefile on the boot partition is always
desirable because Windows XP uses that specific pagefile for special
purposes, such as to receive the content of system failure memory
dumps.

#3 The use of a separate partition for the pagefile will be more
likely to hurt rather than to help the overall performance of the
computer because this configuration results in increased travel
distance for the drive head mechanism every time it has to reposition
between the pagefile partition and the other partitions on that drive.

For accurate information regarding the pagefile and other matters
involving virtual memory in Windows XP see the article by the late
Alex Nichol MVP at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm




Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm