Rob,

The following article from About.com's "Focus On Windows" should clarify the
Swap File for you.  Generally speaking, you can't have too much memory,
although I've read that some Windows 9x configurations have problems with
over 512 MB.  Happy computing!

Sven Swanson, Sr.

Windows tries its best to keep you from running out of memory. Its most
useful memory-managing trick is the Windows swap file, also known as virtual
memory. By default, Windows 95/98 and Windows Me create this swap file
automatically and manage its size dynamically. If you find a large file
called Win386.swp in your Windows folder, you've just found the swap file.
(If this file is located in the root directory of your system drive, that
indicates that the swap file size has been manually adjusted.)

Normally, Windows creates the swap file on the same drive as the one on
which Windows is installed, and it manages its size automatically, from a
minimum of 0 bytes to a maximum size that uses all available space on your
hard disk. If you use Windows 98 or Windows Me, these are the correct
settings. Don't be fooled by bogus Windows tips recommending that you create
a permanent swap file of a certain size! That advice applies only to older
systems running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. In newer Windows versions,
Windows is tuned to manage the swap file efficiently. You may actually harm
performance by changing the swap file settings.

Most Windows users should leave swap file settings alone. However, there is
one specific set of circumstances where you may be able to improve system
performance by manually adjusting swap file settings.

If you have a second physical hard drive (not just a second partition on a
single drive), you can improve performance by moving the swap file to a
different drive from the one that contains your Windows files.

To do so, open Control Panel and double-click the System icon. Click the
Performance tab and click the Virtual Memory button. Choose the Let me
specify my own virtual memory settings option. Finally, open the drop-down
Hard drives list and choose the drive letter where you want your swap file
to be located.

Do not adjust the minimum and maximum sizes of the swap file, and above all,
do not check the Disable virtual memory box!  Click OK to save your changes,
and reboot to make the new swap file settings effective.

 http://windows.about.com/compute/windows/library/tips/bltip181.htm

---------Original Message----------
Date:    Sun, 9 Sep 2001 11:26:35 -0600
From:    Rob <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: swap file

Back when memory was still pretty expensive I remember that a recommendation
for the swap file was (I think) 2.5x the amount of physcial ram. My question
now is what is a recommendation for the swap file now that ram is cheaper
and it is not unusal to have 256mb or more of physcial ram installed. The
way I understand it is that windows requires some type of swap file to run.
TIA
Rob Shane
Infinty Web Services
www.infinitydotcom.com
ICQ# 3433125




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