Clear system page file at shutdown

Virtual memory support in Windows NT uses a system page file to swap pages from memory of different processes onto disk when they are not being actively used. On a running system, the page file is opened exclusively by the operating system and is well-protected. To ensure that any sensitive information from process memory is not left on the hard drive and thus not available to a user booting the PC with another operating system, apply the following Windows NT / Windows 2000 / Windows XP registry hack: Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdown Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1 Note that this protection only works with a clean shutdown. The ClearPageFileAtShutdown is part of the normal shutdown process when this value is set. Valuable for shared PCs or if you have something very valuable needing protection.