Monday, December 24, 2001		Article

Clear memory cache regularly
Vipul Verma

IN TIPS and tricks section this week, we will focus on the finer points of Windows, which not only improves the performance of the personal computer but can also enhance the worth of it.

Most often it has been noticed that in a majority of cases, the slower performance of the personal computer is due to the unwanted files, which are created by default by the computer and which should be removed regularly. These files are stored in the Temp directory and are located as *.tmp files. Deleting these files manually could be a problem because a person may not necessarily remember them to delete always and also it would be a cumbersome task to perform every now and then. However, forcing your computer to dump these files every time you start Windows could be a great idea to get rid of this clutter and keep your system healthy. To enable the setting to delete these files automatically on Windows startup, click on Start, and then click on Run. Now in the run dialogue box, type SYSEDIT and press Enter. From the System Configuration Editor, click the autoexec.bat window. Now add the line deltree /y c:\ windows\ temp\ *.tmp in Autoexec.bat file.

If the temp files are located elsewhere, then you can change the address in place of c:\ windows\ temp. This will solve your problem of removing the temporary files from your system, which is a major hurdle in keeping the system healthy. Also this is a good alternative of disk cleanup utility and can thus save you from some unprecedented problems that could arise due to the presence of these files in your system.

In the previous issues, we have discussed quite a lot about swap files. It is primarily due to the importance of these files that it needs special attention. The management of swap files is important as it is also detrimental in the overall performance of the system. The swap basically files the portion of your hard disk, which Windows uses for virtual memory. The role of virtual memory is to allow you to run more programs at one time than the computer’s RAM would normally allow.

Moreover, when the system runs out of RAM, which is quite a common instance with most of the computers, then Windows uses the swap file to move items in and out of RAM to make memory available to run the programs. This is a regular exercise with most of the computers and happens often. Now, here comes the importance of virtual memory. If you do not have adequate virtual memory, then no matter how advanced system you may have, but the overall performance could go down at a certain stage of operation. Thus it is prudent to keep the swap file a little bigger than required in size, so that your system never runs out of resources.

Another important factor, which is necessary to keep in mind is that you should also keep at least some amount of hard disk free for the use as virtual memory. In present times of large capacity hard disks, this should not be a problem with majority of PC users and at least 1 GB of the hard disk space should be left free. This will allow the swap file to shrink and expand as required based on the tasks at hand and available disk space.

To adjust your swap file size, right-click on My Computer icon and choose Properties. Now select the Performance tab and click the Virtual Memory button. Now click the Let me specify my own virtual memory settings box. And select the current partition or another partition/secondary hard disk for allocating the swap file. Now, click OK and restart your computer. On restarting the system, the new settings will take effect. You should not get panicky if the size of the swap file is large.

Another factor, which is instrumental in overall good performance of your computer, is the management of cache memory. Normally, the user does not clear the cache memory in the Internet browser, which over a period of time grows in size and eventually slows down the computer. Some users do not clear the cache memory and the disk memory purposely as they feel that it helps them in Web browsing by opening the previously visited sites fast.

Though, this logic may be correct to an extent, but there is a bigger logic to understand which suggests why the cache memory be kept free. Normally, in the typical Windows installation, cache files get stored in 32 KB allotments. Therefore it means that each and every Web page visited or any image or icon clicked at normally gets stored in the cache memory. Though, the size of these images and Web pages ranges from 1 KB to 12 KB yet due to Windows nature of allotting a slot of 32 KB for separate information. Thus a huge amount of hard disk gets wasted without any proper utilisation. This clearly shows that by keeping the cache memory blocked you are utilising only 25 per cent of its capacity. Now comparing the related advantages, it appears clearly that clearing your memory cache regularly is a good idea and can help you get the maximum from your computer.

To clear the cache memory and disk memory in Netscape all you need to do is click on edit and then click preferences. Now click on Advanced option in the left side of the window and then click on the Cache option. Now on the right hand side of the Window click on the button clear memory cache and Clear disk cache. Click OK and restart your browser. Do it as a regular exercise for keeping your system healthy.