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Stability and Performance - Taking Control of the VCache

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There is some contoversy regarding altering VCache settings. VCache is where Windows keeps recently accessed files, file names, and directory paths stored in memory for fast re-use. The problem is that in reality, the Vcache is very slow in returning memory for use by other programs ("memory leaks"). So what happens is that your pc soon runs short of free memory and starts using the slower swapfile.

There is a good article about this at The Windows 4 Support Center where the conditions under which setting minimum and maximum values for the VCache should be used are discussed. There is a risk in manually setting the minimum and maximum size of the vcache in terms of slowing down how fast a program reloads, or how fast a file is read when it has already been read or loaded earlier. Much depends on what aspects of your pc performance are needing improved, and which do not matter so much.

If you are running Win98 and have 64 MB or more of RAM, it may also be worth adding to System.ini under the [386Enh] section, the following line: "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" (without the quotes) to prevent the system from using the slower swapfile before it uses the faster available RAM. In effect this tells to computer not to use the swapfile unless it really needs to. This tweak can help prevent excessive hard disk activity. Infact it reverts back to a Windows 95 default setting. Again, whether or not this improves or hinders performance will depend on what you are doing.

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