Clear pagefile on shutdown
April 22, 2008
Clear pagefile on shutdown
For added security you should always clear the page file upon shutting down your computer. Windows uses this file as extra ram. Lets say that you are working on a confidential MS Word doc. When you load this document it is loaded into ram. To save ram windows places certain items in the page file. The page file can then be opened and the document can be extracted as well as any other open program or files. However Microsoft has implemented a feature that will clear the page file but they do not have it enabled by default. Please note, this will slightly increase the amount of time it takes to shut down your computer but it is well worth it.
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Select ClearPageFileAtShutdown from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 1 to enable.
Reboot your computer.
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Clearing the pagefile on sutdown will do very little for security. There are other ways available to access confidential files and most require less effort. To achieve a high level of security requires a well planned security policy with many things to be considered. There are no quick fixes. This is really an extreme security measure and is quite inappropriate for most users.
The pagefile cannot be directly accessed while Windows is running. Direct access is only possible by booting into an alternate operating system, such as a DOS bootdisk with the necessary software. Finding anything of value in a large pagefile would take considerable time.
It should also be mentioned that clearing the pagefile will considerably lengthen shutdown times, particularly if the pagefile is large.