Windows XP users may want to disable the page file to speed up their computer. By default, Windows XP creates a page file every 1GB of RAM. This can slow down your computer if your system is not using all of its memory. You can disable the page file by following these steps:

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click System and Security, and then click System.
  3. Under System Protection, click Change settings for advanced system protection.
  4. In the Protection tab, under Memory usage, select Never use a pagefile for this computer’s virtual address space (VAS). ..

If your computer has 1 GB of RAM or more, disabling the page file can speed up XP by allowing for faster memory management and access.  The page file acts as virtual memory on your computer.  Basically once the physical RAM is used up, Windows uses the hard drive for additional memory.  Systems with under 1GB should not use this tweak … I am using 1 GB as a base guideline depending on your system and applications running results will vary.

Right click on My Computer Properties and click on the Advanced tab.  Under performance click the settings button.

Now in the Performance Options window click the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory click on the Change button.

Now in the Virtual Memory window click on No paging file then hit the Set button.  You will then be prompted to reboot your computer for this tweak to take effect.