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Location: Long Eaton
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 12,868
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Originally Posted by Staffy
I've also been getting a message 'Running Low on Virtual Memory' no idea wot that is.
Any one help?
Hi Naomi
The easy answer would be to increase your RAM, but there are a few factors that could contribute to your issue, so we'll start at the top.
Most programs will require at least 32MB of RAM. If you look in your system tray (next to the time), there are usually four or more programs running (antivirus, firewall, and so on). Those background programs alone require 128MB (32x4 = 12
. Then if you use any programs, such as a Web browser or a word processor, it requires more memory.
What Virtual Memory is and what it does.
Windows makes up the difference for that amount of RAM requirement by allocating or reserving a portion of your hard drive to act as though it were RAM. That's what is referred to as
virtual memory, or page file. The less RAM you have the more virtual memory is allocated. Windows typically manages that for you. As a standard rule of thumb, Windows creates a virtual memory of 1˝ times your physical RAM. So if have 256MB of actual RAM, Windows pagefile (virtual memory) will equal 384MB.
Managing Virtual Memory:
Unless you are an experienced user, you should allow Windows to manage this setting for you. Your issue could arise if somehow the default settings have been changed. To begin with diagnosing your problem you should follow these steps to ensure that Windows is properly managing your Virtual Memory settings.
1. Find out how virtual memory is being managed. Rt-Click "My Computer" and choose "Properties". Click the Advanced tab, then under Performance click Settings.
2. That opens your Performance Options. Click the Advanced tab. For the "typical" home user Processor Scheduling & Memory Usage should be set to "Programs".
3. Under Virtual Memory, click the Change button.
4. That opens you Virtual Memory options. If you have more than one hard drive, make sure that your Main hard drive is selected under "Drive".
5. Under "Paging File Size for Selected Device" check the box that says System Managed Size.
6. Click Ok on all 3 boxes to close out of those settings and Restart your Computer.
Now, if you are still receiving the warning messages and you have ample RAM, you move on to the next step. You should try to eliminate as many background services as possible (all those in the system tray, next to the time, for starters). For safety reasons, you should make sure that your Anti-virus and Firewall are always running. Most of the others can be set not to run in the background by opening the program, select its settings and uncheck or disable the part that says "System Tray".
Hope this helps i have tried to explain it the easy way hope i have done so