EXPERT PROFESSIONAL HELP ▲

Professionalhelp Our technical experts come together to solve all your computer problems

GAVIN BURRELL

●Windows ●Office software ● Utility software

IAN BARKER

●Hardware ●Networking ● Operating systems

DAVID NIELD

●Sound & audio ●Windows ● Digital imaging

IAIN WARDE

●Utility software ●Networking ● Digital video

DAVE CUSICK

●Operating systems ●Hardware ● Programming

Mystery files I discovered two files that are

taking a huge amount of space

on my computer’s c: drive,

called hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys. Can

you tell me what are they for and is it

safe for me to delete them? SSaammnnaanngg

Both of these are control files

generated by Windows. The

hiberfil.sys file is created

when the machine goes into

hibernation mode. It stores all the

settings in use so that the computer

can quickly recover when it’s woken up.

If you don’t use hibernation, turn the

option off by going to the Control Panel

and opening the Power Options applet.

Click the Hibernate tab and remove the

tick next to Enable Hibernation. Once

you’ve done this you should be able to

delete the file.

The pagefil.sys file is rather trickier.

This is a virtual memory file and should

typically be around 1.5 times the value

of your system’s physical memory. So on

a PC with 512MB of RAM, pagefil.sys

should be 768MB. Unless you really

need the space it’s best to leave this

alone as it’s used in the day-to-day

▲

Changing the virtual memory settings can affect Windows’ performance

Turn off Hibernate from the Power Options applet before deleting hiberfil.sys ▲

operations of Windows. If you do want

make the page file smaller or remove it

all together, click Start, right-click on My

Computer and select Properties. Click

on the Advanced tab and select the

Settings option under the Performance

heading. At the bottom of the Advanced

tab you’ll see a box marked Virtual

Memory, click the Change button to

either reduce the size of file used or

select No Paging File to switch it off

altogether. You should be aware that

shrinking or turning off the page file can

lead to reduced PC performance,

especially when shutting down.

Lost key Windows XP

Professional with

Service Pack 2

In Issue 88 ofPC UtilitiesI

was interested in the

directions you gave in the

Professional Help column on how to

remove the little white arrows

associated with shortcuts. I have tried

to follow these but without success. Can

you help me?

When I look in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

in the Registry Editor, I cannot find any

key labelled Inkfile. Nor does a general

search through the computer files

www.pc-utilities.co.uk issue 90 76

▲

You can remove shortcut arrows from icons with a simple registry edit ▲

reveal anything with this name. Can

the IsShortcut registry value be

hidden elsewhere?

TToomm PP MMccLLeeaann

We suspect you’re looking in

the wrong part of the registry.

The key in question is lnkfile

starting with a lowercase L, not with a

capital I as you had it in your email.

Scroll a little further down the list of

keys and you should find it.

If you’re still having trouble, try

installing the Tweak UI PowerToy from

the Microsoft site (wwwwww..mmiiccrroossoofftt..ccoomm).

This enables you to remove shortcut

arrows by checking a box on its

interface.

Lack of Impact 2.8GHz processor, 512MB

RAM, 60GB primary hard drive,

120GB secondary hard drive,

320GB external hard drive, Windows XP

Home Edition with Service Pack 2

QUICK TIP

It’s possible to add an item to the top part of the Start menu above the separator line so it never drops off the list. To do this, right-click on the program’s .exe file in Windows Explorer and select Pin To Start Menu. To remove an item simply right-click on it and choose Unpin From Start Menu.