Darvond: Yes, the page file shrinks, and you can allocate how much you want, but it's suggested you just let the OS do it's thing.
rtcvb32: I forcibly turn mine off...
The pagefile is your VirtualMemory swapspace. It might also be the file used for hibernation (
which makes sense). Very likely it will only shrink after you do a reboot, since otherwise the computer happily keeps as much cached in memory as possible for files you've accessed/used, and other than a restart i can't seem to fix that.
Although it's also unlikely it will shrink, since once allocated unless you specify it to change size, the OS will probably just keep that size reserved... Just in case...
If your using a 32bit machine and have 2-4Gigs then turning off Virtual Memory will probably work fine, unless you're using HUGE games that require all your memory or more.
If you're using a 64-bit machine and have 8Gigs or more, then turning off Virtual Memory will probably work fine (
Unless you're playing games that have 50Gig installs... With the exception of MMOs).
LOL
Even when you have over 9000GB of RAM some programs will sperg at you because they need swap space.
Trying to make Windows efficiently, LOL, better to start writing a new version then.
I have 8GB of RAM on my laptop currently, and I still have a 2GB SWAP, some programs (Photoshop, AutoCAD, SolidEdge, have been reported by some guys from other departments) won't even start up without swap, they just sperg Event Viewer full of errors (like a fecking autist).
https://superuser.com/questions/810170/should-i-disable-swap-file-if-i-have-lots-of-ram-or-should-i-move-it-to-a-virtua https://superuser.com/questions/286446/whats-wrong-with-disabling-the-windows-page-file/286476#286476 But I've already read some toher posts by you in other threads so I know you're smarter than those guys at MS who write OS's for a living, so I'm not going to try and explain nothing.
@OP
Yes it will shrink, depends on usage, easier to just use a fixed size or something. Depends on the programs you use. With 8GB of ram, best is 2GB-8GB (depends on programs again, some people like running Photoshop, Sony Vegas and Fallout 4 concurrently :)