are paging files dangerous?

[joeframbach]

im running XPhome with 96mb ram on my board, just sitting there, no programs running, and i check the task manager and it says it is paging 130mb!

the hd runs considerably slower than ram, so im just wondering if this will cause problems?

[Roy Sinclair]

There's a difference between the SIZE of the pagefile and how much of it is actually in use. However 96mb is less than the recommended minimum of 128mb for use with XP. It is however larger than the minimum supported configuration of 64mb.

The size of the pagefile is usually set at 1.5 times the size of the physical memory unless the machine you've got has a vary large amount of physical memory.

With the small amount of memory you have and the bloated size of today's programs the pagefile on your disk is going to get a workout. If it's possible (and I understand that it may not be possible) you need to upgrade the memory on that box.