What is Swap Memory?

Swap memory is disk space that Linux uses when RAM becomes full.
When RAM is exhausted, Linux moves inactive data to swap, allowing active programs to continue running.

More swap = fewer crashes, fewer freezes, smoother multitasking.

Check Current Swap Size

Open a terminal and run:

free -h

Look at the Swap line.
If it is less than 4GB and your RAM is 4–8GB, increasing it will improve performance.

Step 1 — Turn Off Current Swap

sudo swapoff -a

This disables all active swap.

Step 2 — Create a New 8GB Swap File

You can change 8G to 12G if you want more.

sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile

Set correct permissions:

sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

Create the swap space:

sudo mkswap /swapfile

Enable it:

sudo swapon /swapfile

Step 3 — Make Swap Permanent

Open the file:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add this line at the end:

/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

Save and exit.

Step 4 — Optimize Swap Usage

Linux sometimes uses swap too early. We fix that.

Open:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

Add:

vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50

Apply changes:

sudo sysctl -p

Step 5 — Verify

Check swap:

free -h

You should now see your new swap size.

Why This Improves Performance

With more swap:

• Browsers can keep more tabs open
• Heavy apps won’t crash
• System won’t freeze when RAM is full
• Linux becomes more stable

This is especially helpful for laptops with 4GB or 8GB RAM.