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(Windows NT/2000/XP) Popular
Windows does not normally clear or recreate the page file. On a heavily used system this can be both a security threat and performance drop. Enabling this setting will cause Windows to clear the page file whenever the system is shutdown.
Open your registry and find or create the key below.
Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value, called "ClearPageFileAtShutdown" and set it according to the value data below.
Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.
Note: Please note on systems with large amounts of memory, and therefore large swap-file, this tweak could cause a delay at shutdown due to the additional time taken to clear the data from the file.
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|  | (Default) | REG_SZ | (value not set) | |
|  | ClearPageFileAtShutdown | REG_DWORD | 0x00000001 (1) | |
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| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session ... |  |
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| Registry Settings |
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\
Memory Management]
Value Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdown
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = disabled, 1 = enabled)
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Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.
Last Modified: May 14, 2003
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