Hi,
I am new to this forum. I have been facing this problem of abnormally high page file usage. At times it shoots up to 800 MB and the machine slows down. I am sick of this and my work is getting adversely affected.
My machine configuration is as follows:
Pentium 4, 2.4 Ghz
RAM is 256 MB.
Please give me an idea of how to deal with this problem. Since I m not a techie, it wud be better if the solution is explained simplistically…
Thanx in advance
Miss ..
Hv ur Anti Virus updated to the latest defnitions and then perform a virus scan on ur system ..
Simply speakin .. perform a virus scan frst ..
Secondly ..
if ur system has got partitions.. then only keep the essential data on the main partition..
Shift all the snazzy material on other partitions..
Do these two things .. lets see .. 
Rashmi, when exactly does the paging file go above 800MB, the paging file can shoot up due to badly written codes/programs, or due to memory leaks.
So just keep a eye out on what programs where running when abnormally high PF usage occurs, i am assuming you are not playing games during that time, and that you using XP.
Also have you set the PF manually or its left for OS to handle. Also try posting a screenie of the task manager/performance tab.
hi,
i hv performed virus scan…adware/spyware scan showed quite some infections which have been quarantined but still there is no improvement in the performance. I hv implemented the second suggestion abt partitionong too but PF usage continues to shoot up intermittently.
Yes, I m using XP and I m not doing any programming stuff, neither am i playing games on my machine. The only applications that wud be open include my Inbox, Internet Browser, winamp and word document.
Initially the PF thing was being handled by OS but after witnessing this problem i just increased the maximum limit of the virtual memory from 500 MB to 900 MB…dont know if this was required or not though. But the problem doesnt seen to get solved 
OK, as is said try to do your normal routine but keep the a eye on task manager after everytime you open or close a application.
Check the task manger/performance/commit charge :
Total : shows how much of PF you are currently using
Limit : shows how much of memory you have(physical + paging/virtual)
Peak : now this is important , it shows how much was the max/peak of memory usage. If it the peak is more than the limit then it is time to increase the virtual memory size.
Looking at the applications you mentioned, nothing their would need a paging file of over 500MB so maybe a application problem.
Anyways now your total should be around 250+800 i.e. around 1 GB of memory, just make sure your peak is below that. Also as i said before keep a eye on when or after using which program does it peak.
Thanx a ton for the prompt response…
As suggested, i hv tried to monitor the performace through the task bar with all the applications closed. I hv noticed that maximum memory is being consumed by msiexec.exe and cidaemon.exe. There were instances when memory consumption by cidaemon.exe reached the order of 120, 000 KB even when i had left my comp untouched with all the applications closed.
at one of the peaks givn below was the task mgr’s reading-
**Total **: 866720
**Limit **: 963616
**Peak **: 884828
I m attaching two screen shots of the task mgr.
Will increasig the maximum limit of the virtual memory help?
Thanx again
cidaemon is the indexing service daemon, typically known to use a lot of cpu cycles. Turn off the indexing service or set its cpu priority to low.
Forgot to post the method:
Start > Run > services.msc
Scroll down to Indexing service and turn it off to set to manual.
This is what cidaemon does,
If you use Microsoft Indexing Service, cidaemon.exe might explain the high CPU utilization. This process builds and updates the Index catalog and typically uses a lot of CPU time. However, cidaemon .exe is also set to run at a low priority, so it usually doesn’t degrade the performance of the system even if it’s at a high CPU level.
This is how you can stop it
Turn off the indexing service
Windows XP includes a new feature called ‘indexing’ which constantly creates and updates an index of files in your PC. This index is mainly used for speeding up file searches. The indexing feature is largely useless unless you find yourself using file search a lot, and it sucks up system resources, so it is recommended that you disable it for performance purposes.
To turn off file indexing go to Control Panel\Add/Remove Programs\Windows Components. and uncheck ‘Indexing Service.’
Also increase your PF to 1GB just to be safe.
Their are just too many applications running in the background, run msconfig and disable all startup items not required.
Edit : Blade also has posted the right thing, either make it the indexing service manual or completely disable it for your profile, or the best solution is uninstall it like i mentioned above.
Hey everybody,i would like to say that i have the same problem and i am really getting mad because i can’t solve it.So pls help me..First: my pc is p4 2.4 ghz,Kingston 1GB RAM,160 gb disk space divided on 6 partitions (c,d,e,f,g,h), asus mainboard.The problem: the paging file is increasing to 500 + and i noticed that in the task manager there is explorer.exe which drains too much memory (70,000\90,000) when i open only 1 or 2 sites Do you have any ideas how to fix it? Pls help me
MOD please delete wrong post 
