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The Windows page file is a special file that holds data your RAM cannot hold when it reaches its limits. Your system RAM has a limit. If your system tries to exceed that limit, it can pass some of the data off into the page file.
It isn’t the most efficient way to manage your system memory. However, a page file is a necessity and will keep your system ticking along nicely.
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So, here’s what the Windows 10 page file is, and how a page file works.
What Is a Page File?Your computer has a set amount of RAM or Random Access Memory. Unsure how much your system has? Type system information in your Start Menu search bar. When the System Information window opens, scroll down to find Installed Physical Memory (RAM). Alongside this is the amount of RAM installed on your computer.
RAM holds all of the information relating to open programs, like a working storage area. RAM helps to keep activities on your computer fast by holding regularly accessed data. Plus, RAM is much faster than your old hard drive, and faster even than your solid-state drive.
When RAM runs low, the page file comes into play.
The page file (also known as a swap file) is a file on your hard drive. When your RAM becomes full, Windows moves some of the excess data into the page file. As such, the page file acts as a type of virtual memory, enabling some swapping of data between your hard drive and RAM.
How Does The Page File Work?Windows attempts to use the page file efficiently. That means it looks for the data you are not using at the time but is still held in your RAM. For example, if you (like me!) sit with many different application windows open but minimized, Windows may move some of the background application windows into the paging file.
Moving the data for these files frees up active RAM space for the applications you are using (potentially helping them to run faster and smoother), and is easily retrievable from the page file when you open the window.
The page file is self-managing. You don’t need to fiddle around with the page file settings, except for in certain situations. Typically, the page file is set between a minimum of 1.5 times and a maximum of three times your install RAM.
For example, a system with 4GB RAM would have a minimum of 1024x4x1.5=6,144MB [1GB RAM x Installed RAM x Minimum]. Whereas, the maximum is 1024x4x3=12,288MB [1GB RAM x Installed RAM x Maximum].
Can I Disable The Page File?Disabling the page file to improve system performance is a myth. If you have a system with relatively low memory, disabling the ability to pass some data off into your hard drive will only harm overall performance (albeit saving a few gigabytes of storage on your hard drive).
At the very worst, disabling the page file will cause programs to crash if you begin to run out of RAM, as there is nowhere for the additional data to go. Crashing programs can cause other system instabilities, so it just isn’t worth it.
Even with 16GB RAM installed on my computer, I keep the paging file intact!
Running Low On Virtual MemoryOne common issue that alerts people to the presence of the paging file is running low on virtual memory. You might encounter an error message like this:
“Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file. During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see help.”
This message means that as well as your RAM being full, your page file is also bursting at the seams. As such, you need to increase your virtual memory, e.g., the page file. Remember, meddling with your page file isn’t common, but this is one of the exceptions.
How To Increase The Page File SizeIf you do need to increase the size of your page file, you can edit it manually. As mentioned above, you should only do this under exceptional circumstances.
2. Switch to the Advanced tab. Under Performance, select Settings.
3. Switch to the Advanced tab. Under Virtual Memory, select Change.
4. Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
5. Increase the size of the paging file within 1.5 to 3 times your installed RAM. Press Set when you’re ready.
Press OK to leave the Virtual Memory management window. You have now changed your page file size.
Upgrade Your RAM For Better PerformanceUpsizing your page file is only a temporary solution to a virtual memory issue. If you frequently hit the virtual memory limit and find yourself having to adjust the page file, you should consider installing more RAM.
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What Is Com Surrogate In Windows 10 And Is It A Virus?
Have you ever noticed the COM Surrogate process in the Windows 10 task manager? I was browsing through the list of processes and noticed two of them running on my system.
Understanding the different processes in task manager can be quite a challenge. I already wrote a detailed post on chúng tôi which is a process that hosts different Windows services. There can easily be 10 to 15 of these running on your system at any given time.
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In this article, I’ll give you a quick look at what COM Surrogate is in Windows 10 and whether you have to worry about it or not.
What is COM Surrogate?COM Surrogate is one of those processes where you really have no idea of what it does by looking at it. It doesn’t have a custom icon and sits there without providing much information about what it does.
Sometimes, there are multiple COM Surrogate processes running at once. If you go to task manager, you’ll normally see two of them running.
Thankfully, COM Surrogate is not a virus (most of the time). It’s a legitimate Windows 10 process that runs in the background. It’s called dllhost because the process is hosting DLL files. That probably makes no sense, so let’s explain it in more detail.
Basically, Microsoft created an interface for developers to create extensions to programs called COM Objects. This is used for certain programs in Windows 10 also. For example, Windows Explorer has a COM object that allows it to create thumbnails for images and videos in a folder.
However, the big problem with these COM objects was that they would crash and bring the Explorer process down with it too. That meant your whole system would crash if a COM object failed for any reason.
To fix this issue, Microsoft came up with the COM Surrogate process that basically ran the COM object in a separate process than the one that requested it. So, in the Explorer example, the COM object would not run in the chúng tôi process, but instead in this newly created COM surrogate process.
Now, if the COM object crashed, it would only take out the COM Surrogate process and Explorer would continue running. Pretty smart, right?
Actually, if you download Process Explorer, you can see the COM object I am referring to above.
Can COM Surrogate Be a Virus?There have been instances in the past where trojans and viruses have hidden in the Windows operating system by masking themselves as COM Surrogate and other Windows processes.
Usually, COM surrogate uses very little memory and CPU and there are only one or two instances of it running. If there are numerous chúng tôi processes or the process is eating up more than 1 to 2 percent of your CPU, I would suggest performing an offline virus scan, which can better detect tricky hidden viruses.
Hopefully, reading through this article has taught you a thing or two about COM Surrogate and Windows 10 background processes. Going forward, you should be less worried about seeing processes like this running in the background.
How To Fix: The File Or Directory Is Corrupted And Unreadable On Windows 10.
If you are trying to connect an external hard drive or USB drive to your Windows 10 computer but are constantly seeing ‘: is not accessible, The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable’. This article will take you through several different troubleshooting steps you can try to fix the issue.
How to Check if Your ASUS Computer Has Been Infected By ASUS Update Malware. (ShadowHammer)
When you connect a USB pen drive or external hard drive to a Windows 10 computer it will automatically install drivers and prepare itself for access. Unless of course it has been encrypted first. If however, you connect a USB drive or external hard drive to your computer and receive the following error message ‘: is not accessible, The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable’, there’s a good chance the device has a hardware issue and has either died or is in the process of dying.
Although a hardware fault is the most likely cause of this error message, it’s still possible that the device is corrupted or infected with malware instead, though quite unlikely. If you aren’t entirely convinced of a hardware fault below you will find several different troubleshooting steps you can take to remedy ‘: is not accessible, The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable’ on Windows 10.
Related: How Prevent Messages Forwarded in Telegram Linking Back to You. (Disable Forwarded Messages)
How Do You Fix ‘: is not accessible, The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable’ on Windows 10?Sadly at this point, the chances of recovering any data from the device are next to none so if the device does work from time to time when you connect it to your PC copy everything you can off of it. Once you have copied all the data you can off the device try to run a full malware/virus scan on it. Avast, AVG, Malwarebytes, Windows Defender, etc. If the device is infected with malware these programs should find and remove it. Hopefully restoring functionality to the device in return. If it’s not working sporadically enough to do this, you can try the following.
Run ‘chkdsk’ From Command Prompt.One of the easiest tools you can use to fix this issue is the Windows 10 chkdsk tool which will hopefully check and fix any errors on your device. To run the tool open Command Prompt as Admin, then copy and paste the following command into the window. Obviously replacing (Drive Letter) with the drive letter of your device. Then press Enter.
chkdsk (Drive Letter): /f /r /x /bIt should look something like this.
chkdsk D: /f /r /x /bThe command will either start running straight away or display the following message:
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process, Would you like the schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)
If you get this message press Y on your keyboard to confirm the check after a restart. Now Restart your computer and wait for the results. If your drive is working fine after the check, you can wrap this guide up here, if it isn’t, continue reading.
Worst Case Scenario…If nothing above has helped at all, the only real step moving forward is to reformat the device. This will completely wipe the device and allow you to start using it again from a clean state. However, will only be a temporary solution if the device’s hardware is failing. Seeing as USB devices are quite cheap nowadays, it’s probably safer to buy a new one and save yourself some future heartache.
How To Reduce Video File Size In Windows 11/10?
The way in which videos are made and shared these days have come a long way. Unless you are a professional YouTuber, high video qualities like 2K, or 4K can seem wasteful and a bit of an overkill, since most videos are used for casual recreational and sharing purposes. In a case where you do come across a video that is too big to be shared or uploaded, you may want to reduce its size. So today, I’ll be suggesting some hassle-free ways in which you can do so. I will be discussing freeware as well as a free online tool.
What impacts a video’s size?The two most common ways in which you can reduce a video’s size without impacting its quality is by either trimming the footage down or removing audio from the video. You can bring your video’s resolutions down but that is going to take a toll on its quality, although tools and software try their best to make the impact as minimal as possible. The resolutions that you choose to go with largely depend on the device that your video will be broadcasted on. The bigger the screen of your device, say television or a home projector, the higher the resolutions you would need. So, one should make modifications to their videos accordingly.
There are several other factors that can play a role in the varied video sizes like video codec and the bitrate. Video bitrate is the amount of data that is used by a video per second. Different videos require different bitrate to stream without losing their quality, depending on their resolution and frame rates. The video codec is used to encode a video and compress its data. Different codecs provide different compression ratios, depending on the contents of the video. For example, the H.265 codec offers a 50% better compression ratio than the H.264 codec.
How to reduce video file size in Windows 11/10You can reduce video size without losing quality. Using this free video compressor software or online tool you can make video size smaller.
ShotCut free video compressor softwareShotCut is a full-fledged video editing tool used by people far and wide to efficiently cut down on the size of their videos. In order to edit a video on ShotCut, you have to follow the steps mentioned below:
Download & install ShotCut, open it and import a video file using the ‘Open File’ option.
Using an H.264 profile is good enough to cut down on the video size without giving up too much on its quality, and it is what ShotCut itself claims to have done the job for most of its users.
It is in the export settings that you will find options to compress your videos. You can play around with the resolutions and the aspect ratios. You should keep in mind that you make proportionate changes to your configurations unless you want a distorted video.
Changing the output automatically modifies the attributes of the video, suppose you shift from HDV (1080p HD film at 25 fps) to HDV (720p HD film at 29 fps). Your FPS and resolution will change automatically, and so will your corresponding size. Going smaller than the preset resolution, however, will require you to calculate the appropriate dimensions manually.
VideoSmaller free video compressor online toolCompatible with both Mac and Windows, VideoSmaller is a clean, easy-to-use video compressing tool. The first thing you’ll notice is that it first offers you to use a lower compression level on the video you upload. This would maintain the best quality but won’t reduce the size as much.
Alternatively, you can choose to scale your video. The option to do so is right below the low compression setting, in the form of a dropdown with all possible dimensions. This would impact your video quality, the significance of the impact would depend on how much you choose to scale it back, but it would reduce the file size considerably.
On the bottom is an option for you to rid the video of any sound. This, as mentioned above, has bearings on the file size. So, if your video is something that isn’t in any need of audio, you can check this setting too. On the window where you can upload your video is a warning that VideoSmaller can only take videos up to 500MB, but this isn’t something to be worried about, because it takes hours and hours of footage off of, say, a smartphone, to rag up 500 megabytes. VideoSmaller also claims to keep your uploaded videos off of its cloud, i.e., any video you upload will be removed from its servers a few hours after your work with it is done. Go here to use this tool.
Batch Rename Files And File Extensions In Windows 11/10
If you have a bunch of files in a folder which you want to name sequentially and convert to the same file type or format, how do you go about doing this? If it is just a few files, you can do it manually, but what if there are, say, 10-20 or even 100 files?
In this post, we will see how to batch rename files and change file extension for all files in a folder quickly & easily in Windows 11/10/8/7. This can be especially useful if you have multiple photographs or images of various names or file extensions, like .jpg, .png, etc., and you would like to rename them to chúng tôi chúng tôi etc. for the sake of convenience.
Change file extension for all files in a folder ren *.* *.jpgHere we are using a wildcard as we want any file extension to be changed to jpg. When you do this, you will see that all the files in the folder will get an extension of .jpg.
Related: How to rename all File Extensions in a Folder at once in Windows
Batch rename filesNow the next thing you want to do is to rename the files sequentially. To do this, press Ctrl+A to select all the files in that folder.
So, by following this tutorial, you will batch rename all the files sequentially numerically and also change the
Similar to this tool is ContextReplace, which will help you rename multiple files or folders via the context menu.
TIP: In Windows, it’s even easier to rename multiple files or folders. If you want to rename multiple files, tap the TAB button after renaming the first file, and you’ll be moved on to the next in-line file or folder. You can thus immediately rename the following file.
Moreover, Windows also has one more nice feature. Even if the ‘show file extension’ feature is enabled, it does not highlight the file type extension while renaming. So you are safer, as you will not change or delete the extension by mistake while renaming.
These free File Renamer software may interest you.
What is the fastest way to rename files in bulk?Windows PowerToys offers powerful renaming capabilities, making it the fastest and most efficient way to rename multiple files at once. With the PowerToys renaming feature, users can find and remove characters inside the name of a file while also changing the file name case and the extension if desired. In addition, users have the ability to rename using sequential numbers, allowing for a greater level of customization and improved organization of files and folders.
How do I rename multiple files sequentially in Windows?Select the files you wish to rename multiple files in File Explorer. Then press F2 on your keyboard to select the last file in the list. You can then type in the desired name for all selected files and press Enter. All files will receive the same name, with successive numbers in parentheses to differentiate them. For example, if you selected three files and wanted to name them all “document”, the files will be renamed to “document (1)”, “document (2)”, and “document (3)” respectively.
File Explorer Search Not Working Properly In Windows 11/10
Windows File Explorer offers a search box that allows you to search for files in the current folder or anywhere on the computer. If you have noticed, Microsoft seems to have changed the behavior of the Explorer search box in Windows 11 or Windows 10. Earlier, one had to start typing, and you would see the options in the drop-down and the items being displayed in the windows. But now you have to type your keyword and then hit Enter for the search results to get populated. Moreover, there are no search suggestions offered in the drop-down.
File Explorer Search Box not returning any resultsWindows Search powers this new search experience, and it also displays your OneDrive account online content. While it works, at times, I have found it freezing or not working correctly. At times it may even cause Explorer to crash when searching. If you face issues, here are a few inputs.
File Explorer Search not working properlyThese troubleshooting tips can be followed without any fear of deleting files. However, make sure to understand what is the exact nature of your problem. Sometimes you might be looking for the wrong file, or the content is not there in any file and so on. Let’s fix the search issue with these inputs.
Search Behaviour change
Search Box Stuck or Not Responding in Explorer
Search does not display any result
Restart the Windows Search Service
Run Search & Indexing Troubleshooter
Restart File Explorer
Some of the tips need admin permission, especially when we are restarting a service.
1] Search Behaviour changeHere is the list of recent changes made to File Explorer in Windows 11/10. So if the problem is because of behavior change, then you should know that it is not a bug.
No Instant Search Result in File ExplorerIn the earlier version of File Explorer, the results were displayed as soon as you started typing. It has changed. Now when you type, a couple of search results are displayed right below the search bar, but only when you hit Enter, the complete result is displayed. In short, the instant search result has been removed. However, when you press the enter key, it shows the search result like the previous style.
OneDrive Integration with File ExplorerThe results that are displayed include files and folders from OneDrive online and offline files. Here is an essential thing about the OneDrive search. They can find online files, i.e., the one which is not downloaded on the computer, only if you chose the “Files on Demand” option in OneDrive.
Files on Demand bring the metadata of the files on the computer. So when you search, the search program uses that metadata to find the data and display as part of the result.
Directly open Files from Search Result 2] Search Box Stuck or Not Responding in Explorer
Type something and hit Enter to start the search
Now go back using the back button
However, as soon as you press the down key/up key or type anything, it will start working again.
So if that’s what is happening with you, then it’s just the missing cursor, which should be fixed through a minor update.
That said, since we are noticing many people having a similar issue, it can’t be denied because of the way it is working for me. If you are facing stuck or not responding issues in Windows File Explorer Search, it is best to restart Explorer by following the method I have shown in the last point.
See this post if the Windows Search bar is missing.
3] Search does not display any resultEven after you hit Enter, there is no result; you may have to rebuild the search index. Before going ahead, make sure to search for recognizable file names which are on the computer, and if that doesn’t work, it will be best to rebuild the index.
These days we have started saving our files on cloud services like OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox to name a few. If you are saving files there, and the folders are not included in the index, then it will not be able to search for them. We have written a detailed guide on this, so make sure to read our post on Windows File Explorer stuck on ‘Working on it…’ message. You may have to optimize the folder for General Items as well.
4] Restart the Windows Search ServiceLike everything else, Windows creates a service for search as well. If the service has stopped or disabled to start with Windows boot, then it can be problematic.
Open the Services window by typing chúng tôi in the Run prompt and press the Enter key.
Locate a service with the name Windows Search.
Also, change it to Automatic Delayed, if it is disabled.
However, if the service repeatedly starts and then stops, then you need to delete all files with BLF and REGTRANS-MS extension in this directory.
5] Run Search & Indexing TroubleshooterIn Windows 10:
Open Windows Settings (Win + I)
Locate Search & Indexing troubleshooter
The troubleshooter checks at several points that might be clogging the experience of search, and fixes it. Try searching after it’s completed to see if the issue has been fixed.
6] Restart File ExplorerIf the File Explorer is misbehaving, then it’s best to restart it to know if that was the problem.
Then under apps, locate Windows Explorer.
Momentarily everything will disappear and then come back. Once it is back, try searching again and check if File Explorer Search is working properly.
These tips should help you resolve the issue with Search and File explorer. You can even make Windows find the content inside of a file and do deep searches. Follow our guide, and it will help you master the search in Windows.
File Explorer crashes when searching for filesIf File Explorer crashes when searching for files then you may need to check Check installed Add-ons, Run System File Checker, Update Video drivers. Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State. etc. This post offers suggestions to fix Explorer crashes or freezes.
UPDATE: Microsoft has released a Cumulative Update to fix this issue.
How do I fix Search in File Explorer?To fix the search in File Explorer on Windows 11/10, you need to do a few things, as mentioned here. For instance, you need to change the search behavior, restart the Windows Explorer process in the Task Manager, use the corresponding troubleshooter, etc. However, you can also restart the Windows Search service from the Services panel on Windows 11/10.
Why does search not work in File Explorer?Numerous reasons could be responsible for this error. From a corrupted system file to a certain change in the search behavior, anything can be accountable for this error in Windows 11/10. However, if you get this problem on your computer, you can follow the steps mentioned above in this article.
If nothing works, it is not the end of the world. Check out our list of some of the free Windows Search alternative software which works as well or better than Windows Search. If you start using them, you might not use Windows Search at all.
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