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Manually Clearing Page File Windows 7

Anonymous
2012-10-06T22:43:03+00:00

Hi I have a relatively new PC with a SSD. My drive is not that large and I want to minimize or clean off any extra junk files that are not needed. Recently when running my anti virus software it automatically added the addition to clear my page file at shutdown.  When shutting down Windows 7 I noticed it took about 15 minutes and when I rebooted my system I viewed a significant amount of free space on my drive (10 GB). I left the registry alone allowing the clear page to continue to clear at shutdown, but it takes about 3 minutes even after minimal use. So I have set the registry NOT to clear my page file at shutdown. I do use a system cleaner daily, but it does not have the ability to clear the page file manually.

Is there a way to clear the page file manually within Windows or at shutdown with a quick setup?

If not is there a cleaner that would allow me clear the page file or to turn it off and on easily. My current anti virus software will turn it on, but I have to manually turn it off within the registry.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-10-08T18:43:07+00:00

    Thanks, but it takes up too much space on my drive. Last time I deleted it took up 10GB on my 60GB drive. This is on a 3 month old PC. It only grows if left alone. It would be great to have a way to easily delete it within Windows once a week.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-10-06T23:23:04+00:00

    Hi, DataMiner2,

    I've used this edit to clear the page file but never a third-party software.  The software may be what's taking soo long.

    How to clear the Windows Paging File on Shutdown

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314834

    Windows 7 and Windows Vista - Clear Paging File

    http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/157323-virtual-memory-paging-file-clear-shutdown.html

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-04T02:49:11+00:00

    This is not an option to remove the Page File, only to clear it on shutdown, but it's

    almost four years since this thread was started, and I got rid of Tweak Now Power Pack in the

    interim.

    The only thing I used if for back then was the option to remove the arrow from desktop shortcuts,

    but I have a stand alone option for that now.They may use a different term for the Page File in TNPP,

    I don't recall, but If you click on all of the options in TNPP you should be able to find it.

    • Another way to clear the PF is to disable it, reboot and reset it (forgot to mention in the earlier post).
    • I did use to clear the PF occasionally when using XP as the PF seemed to get spread around the

    HDD a lot more with XP ( judging by the XP defragmenter graph).

    The PF got more use on XP as well because my machine had only 2GB RAM.

    I also use an SSD for Windows, so even if the PF did become fragmented on Win7/10 it would not matter.

    I do still use the manual PF setting with 2048 min and max, but if you have 8GB or more system RAM

    1024 min/max should be adequate in the vast majority of systems.

    .

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-10-08T19:21:35+00:00

                     I like the idea of limiting the page size with a max amount, but wonder if I did this and it hits the limit what would happen?

    You would begin to receive Low on memory messages and Windows will adjust the file accordingly..  Windows has a built in self-preservation mechanism "to an extent".

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  5. Anonymous
    2012-10-08T19:03:55+00:00

    Check the list found here in the Script Repository

    http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/site/search?query=Page%20File&f%5B0%5D.Value=%20Page%20File&f%5B0%5D.Type=SearchText&ac=8

    Have you removed applications that are just collecting dust -- Found in Control Panel and Turn Windows Features On or Off?  60GB is not a lot of disk space and it will bog down with each application/file/folder, etc....   Additional Memory may help

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