Windows acting strange

I've carried out the actions to the paging file, although these was a paging file set, although not Windows Managed, and rebooted.

I am not sure what that means. Please tells us how your page file is currently set up.

Is there any other way I can check to make sure this setting has now been set correctly?

Your Pit Test indicates - Paging of Kernel disabled - YES

That setting is officially called DisablePagingExecutive in the Registry, and it works works hand-in-hand with the LargeSystemCache. DisablePagingExecutive causes the operating system (Windows) to keep all of the core kernel (basic instructions needed for the computer's internal communications between components and sub-systems) loaded into main memory, RAM, as opposed to sending the lesser used instruction sets (chunk of kernel code) off to the "disk cache", commonly called the "Page File". The Page File settings are not affected by this setting. This setting is usually considered a "tweak" used to improve performance when you have large amounts of RAM, enough RAM for Windows to keep all the kernel code PLUS the code needed to run your programs. Any time Windows does not have to wait on the sllooowww hard drive, the better. So if you have lots of RAM, at least 1 Gb or more, then having this set to "Yes" may improve the performance on your machine.

Sadly, PC PitStop has done us a bit of disservice here by choosing to name that setting "Paging of Kernel" instead of something closer to what is listed in the Registry. Non-standard terminologies causes confusion and obstacles to understanding - I might have picked up on what was happening sooner if PitStop did not decide to make up their termonology.

It dawned on me this morning that I have seen this tweak many times before. This is half of an old "TweakXP Memory Performance Tweak. Note the tweak was posted in 2002, just after XP was released, and when 512Mb was considered a decent sized chunk of RAM.

So, Steve, to simply check (not change) your settings, follow the instructions in that TweakXP link and note those settings. As ALWAYS never make any changes to the Registry without first backing it up.

Digerati, I followed the steps suggested by Doug to set "System Managed Size" for vitual memory. That is what I tried to say. Before doing that I did notice that this wasn't turned off. I was just a bit mystified. I have opened the registery and looked at the key suggested by TweakXP. I took a screenshot and have attached it. Steve

It sounds like your previous page file settings were set for a "fixed" size PF - that is, a custom setting with both the "Initial" size and the "Maximum" size set to the same value. That is my preferred way, but if you have a large disk with lots of free disk space, and you don't constantly add and remove tons of files, the Windows Managed way is perfectly fine, and what most people use with no problems. The screenshot shows the DisablePagingExecutive set to "1" which is "Yes".

Thanks Digerati,

So is this right or wrong?

The screenshot shows the DisablePagingExecutive set to "1" which is "Yes".

Should this be 1 or 0?

1 = High = Yes = On = Enabled
0 = Low = No = Off = Disabled

Do not let the name of this setting, DisablePagingExecutive, confuse you. When you Enable the setting, you Disable the kernel paging.

There is no safe or unsafe setting - it is what works best for you.

With plenty of RAM, most computers will gain a small performance boost with the setting enabled or set to 1. For your single core CPU and XP, 1Gb is considered the sweet-spot so you might benefit from this tweak. Whether you, as the user, will notice any performance boost is another matter.

Since yours is set to 1, the switch is enabled - kernel paging is disabled. It will do no harm to disable the switch (set it to 0), and give it a try, and see which setting appears to you to work best. That's not the case for all Registry settings, in case someone reading gets some ideas about messing with the Registry.

I have mine set to 1.

I will say this - when looking at your PC PitStop report again, I see you are using on-board graphics. You would certainly see a much greater performance boost by moving to an add-in graphics card. Even the most basic graphics cards will usually yield a significant performance gain for ALL aspects of your computing experience. This is because most cards have a better graphics engine, the graphics processor unit (GPU), and all cards come populated with dedicated memory - often 256Mb or more. This last part is important because on-board graphics end up stealing some system RAM for graphics processing. This reduces the amount of RAM available to the OS and CPU

Installing a card not only gives you a better GPU, dedicated memory for graphics processing, AND it frees up any previously snagged system RAM, in effect, giving you a little RAM increase.

Of course there's a down side. Cards cost money (see Tom's Hardware Best Graphics Cards for the Money: June 08), but also, cards require more power than on-board graphics. So you need to make sure your power supply can handle the greater demands of the card. Finally, cards generate heat, requiring a review of cooling capabilities, and some cards have fans that can get quite loud.

I changed it to 0 and re-booted and it doesn't seem to make any noticible difference.

With that much RAM, no real surprise.

Any suggestions as to what I try next? Thanks

I mentioned earlier about temporarily lowering the firewall - did you try that?

Yes. I turned it off. It didn't make any difference. It is back on now.

Hmmm, I've run out of ideas.

• You reset IE - that did not help
• You disabled your firewall - no help
• HJT is clean
• Pitstop was was fine
• ***It works fine in Safe Mode - that suggests hardware, a driver, or a service that is loaded at start. I think I would start MSCONFIG an uncheck everything not needed - especially Nero and the bloat that comes with it - such as BGMonitor. I don't see why you need Network Magic anymore, or pwrisovm. Intelmem is for Intel chipset modems - are you using one? Do you use Adobe Gamma Loader? Do you schedule batch file runs? If not get rid of Wscheduler .

Removed all those programs, rebooted, checked to make sure they're not running, and it's still the same :-(

Well, again, if it works fine in Safe Mode, but not normal mode something being loaded at boot is causing problems. That would point to your networking hardware, drivers or settings, or your security settings, or some other program that is runs during normal boot. Have you looked at AutoRuns for Windows or Process Explorer - one of these may tell you if something is dependent on IE, or the other way around.