HIBERFIL.SYS and PAGEFIL.SYS

VictoryBell

I scanned my PC with F-Secure and the report said it could not open these two files to scan them. The report said that system files that appear in the "can't open it" category of the report can be ignored - but I'm paranoid. Is it possible they have been infected and should I get rid of them, anyway (if so, how?)?

 

Thanks

 

VictoryBell

NikK

That's normal as some files are locked by Windows itself, so you can't delete them.

 

Hibernate

I don't know about infections since F-Secure is scanning all executed files and so on, but the Hibernate file is a complete memory dump the size of your RAM and can contain sensitive data like passwords etc. Use Windows "Sleep"(next to Shut down and Restart) instead, it's like pausing a DVD, a power saving mode with quick resume.

Note: Sleep needs power while Hibernate needs disk space.

 

Pagefile

The pagefile is Windows extended RAM memory, but much slower since it's stored on disk. If you have several GB of RAM you could set the pagefile to minimum size to reduce disk use. However, it's not recommended to disable the pagefile. And reducing the pagefile size may affect memory dumps in case of a system crash.

 

How to increase security

If you want to be more "safe" there are things you can do. I'm somewhat paranoid myself so here's what I've done:

 

• Turned Hibernate off
• Encrypt the pagefile

Both of the above uses built in Windows commands.

VictoryBell

Many thanks, NikK - I will follow your advice. Merry Christmas!