Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Windows uses a swap file (commonly called pagefile.sys) to extend physical memory (RAM) by temporarily storing data from memory to disk when RAM is insufficient. This allows the system to handle more data than the available RAM.

Linux and Unix typically use dedicated swap partitions or swap files but refer to them differently and manage them in other ways.

Mac OS X uses a paging file system but does not typically use a 'swap file' in the Windows sense; it uses dynamic paging files instead.

The terminology 'swap file' is most commonly associated with Windows.

Microsoft Windows forensics guidelines and NIST documentation describe the page file's role in virtual memory management in Windows operating systems.