If you’re like most people, you probably have a Windows Pagefile. This is a file that stores information about the active windows on your computer. It’s important because disabling the Windows Pagefile can cause problems. The Windows Pagefile stores information about the active windows on your computer in three files: the pagefile.sys file, the registry keys for that file, and the user’s personal files. If you disable the Windows Pagefile, your computer will not be able to start up or run any of its programs properly. One of the problems caused by disabling the Windows Pagefile is that some of your programs won’t work at all. For example, if you use Microsoft Office, then you won’t be able to open any of those files because they’re stored in the pagefile.sys file. Similarly, if you use Adobe Photoshop or other software that uses images and graphics, then those files will also be affected by this decision. Another problem caused by disabling the Windows Pagefile is that some of your data will be lost forever. For example, if you have a lot of pictures and videos stored in your pagefile, then when you disable this file they’ll all be gone forever! And if you have a lot of music or audio stored in this file too? Then those too will go away! So why bother having a Windows Pagefiled? Well, it’s important for two reasons: firstly because it helps keep your computer running smoothly and secondly because it helps protect your data from being lost forever!
Reader Eric did comprehensive testing using various test suites, boot and shutdown, and other testing to see whether disabling the page file break your system or give a performance boost.
Conclusions:
You can run Windows without a pagefile if you have enough RAM. There’s pretty much zero benefit to disabling the pagefile.
You should definitely check out the full (very long) article for all the details.
The Windows 7 Pagefile And Running Without One [TweakHound]
