After installing the OS and cleaning up any junk leftover from the installation and update procedures, we move on to tweaking some of Windows 8s settings to better suit our aged PC. Our first stop was the Advanced System Settings menu, where we can alter the OS virtual memory settings and visual options.To get to the Advanced System Settings in Windows 8, switch to Desktop mode, click the shortcut in the taskbar, and then right-click on . In the resulting context menu, select , and the System control panel will open. Click on Advanced System Settings in the left pane of the window and the control panel will open. Click on the Advanced tab, and then click on the Settings button in the Performance section at the top to open the control panel. Once open, click on the Visual Effects tab at the top and then tick the "Adjust For Best Performance" option and hit Apply. If there is a particular visual effect youd prefer to leave enabled, you can individually select it here, but the more options that are disabled the better your PC's performance will be.

While the Performance Options control panel is still open, click on the Advanced tab at the top and on the resulting menu click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section.

Theres lots of debate as to how to best configure Windows paging file, but unless you consistently run tons of applications a run out of physical and virtual memory, Microsofts recommended paging file size should be fine. The recommended size of the paging file is going to vary based on how much memory is installed in your system; in our Eee PC, which had 2GB of RAM, the recommended size for the paging file was 2039MB. By default, Windows will start with a smaller paging file and scale it up on the fly if necessary. By manually specifying the paging file size, Windows will no longer have to dynamically manage the file and the recommended amount will always be available.

To specify the paging file size in Windows 8, select the Custom Size: radio button in the middle of the Virtual Memory control panel and then input the recommended paging file size in megabytes (listed at the bottom of the window) in both the Initial Size and Maximum Size fields. Then click the Set button, click OK, and the click OK to close the Performance Options window. Click OK in the System Properties window as well, then restart the computer if necessary. However, as noted earlier, you really don't have to do this.