Computer Help--Low Virtual Memory

[.dsaavedra.]

ok my computer has been really slow for a while now and just about every day (sometimes a few times a day) i get a message in the bottom right (by the clock) that pops up and says 'windows is low on virtual memory and has to make more space ' or something to that effect. next time it pops up i'lll pring screen it and post it here.

anyway, why is this happening and how do i fix it???

[Eddie Munster]

What OS are you using? XP or Vista?

Here's the instructions for XP.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2282429_increase-virtual-memory-windows-xp.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

I would also run msconfig (go to run and type msconfig) and see what all is in your startup tab. Deselect the unnecessary stuff like Itunes helper, etc....

Good luck

[Branuss04]

What OS are you using? XP or Vista?

Here's the instructions for XP.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2282429_increase-virtual-memory-windows-xp.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

I would also run msconfig (go to run and type msconfig) and see what all is in your startup tab. Deselect the unnecessary stuff like Itunes helper, etc....

Good luck

+1

I have an older labtop that has issues as well.  If you've had it for awhile, you might consider re-formatting it and starting from scratch.  It will be like a new computer.  I do it to mine about once every 10 months or so.  

[Fishing Rhino]

Run the disc cleanup program.  It'll get rid of a lot of useless clutter that slows things down.

You can also defragment your hard drive.  Do it when you won't need to use the computer for a few hours.  It can take a long time.

Defragmenting is sorting and organizing the bits of data that are stored at random on the hard drive.

If you wanted to bake a cake, and the sugar was in one bedroom, the flour in a bathroom the baking soda in a hall closet, and all the other ingredients stashed willy nilly around the house, it would take forever.

It's why all the baking goods are generally kept in a pantry or a kitchen cabinet.  When you need something, you know where to look.

When data is stored, it apparently is stored anywhere there is room.  So when you want to run a program, the data for that program may not be all in one section.  

Defragmenting eliminates the need for the processor to hunt down each item it needs to run a program or to do what you tell it.  Speeds up the process.

[Hookemdown.]

Once you go Mac, you don't go back.

[Dan:]

Once you go Mac, you don't go back.

^yeah, because even if you want to go back you can't because you will have no money left... ;D

[.dsaavedra.]

its an XP and its a few years old.

i told my dad i want to save all my music and other important things and do a full system restore on this thing to make it brand new but we haven't really got around to it.

the message popped up earlier:

[J Francho]

Lose Norton, and get NOD32. While you're at it, add some RAM.  A screen shot of your process list in task manager would be most useful.

[moby bass]

Lose Norton, and get NOD32. While you're at it, add some RAM. A screen shot of your process list in task manager would be most useful.

Now that you've brought this up, my computer is slow as well and I occasionally get the same virtual memory box.  I know I have a lot of processes running in the background and would like to end some of them but I don't know how to tell what they are doing and which ones to close.

[Dan:]

Lose Norton, and get NOD32. While you're at it, add some RAM. A screen shot of your process list in task manager would be most useful.

Now that you've brought this up, my computer is slow as well and I occasionally get the same virtual

memory box. I know I have a lot of processes running in the background and would like to end some of them but I don't know how to tell what they are doing and which ones to close.

Get CCleaner. It deletes temporary file clutter but it also has a utility that shows you the startup processes and where they originate (which can help you figure out what they are). If you can't figure out what they are, then google the process and you will find it.

[Dan:]

Lose Norton, and get NOD32. While you're at it, add some RAM. A screen shot of your process list in task manager would be most useful.

x2. I have Bitdefender because it was cheaper but NOD32 uses very little system resources--like less than any other antivirus.... Running that would lessen the demand on your memory.

[J Francho]

Lose Norton, and get NOD32. While you're at it, add some RAM. A screen shot of your process list in task manager would be most useful.

Now that you've brought this up, my computer is slow as well and I occasionally get the same virtual

memory box. I know I have a lot of processes running in the background and would like to end some of them but I don't know how to tell what they are doing and which ones to close.

Get CCleaner. It deletes temporary file clutter but it also has a utility that shows you the startup processes and where they originate (which can help you figure out what they are). If you can't figure out what they are, then google the process and you will find it.

Another VERY good bit of advice.

[SirSnookalot]

1. disc clean up

2. defrag

3. system restore, a few months back

4. ram never hurts, but if the puter was good once, that isn't the problem

5. reformat if all else fails

make sure you have everything backed up first, everything will be erased

[Walz]

Run a spyware/malware detection program (ex. Adaware) if you have not already done that. These types of things can hog up alot of memory and do some other nefarious things.

You can stop some processes to free up memory, but unless you disable them they will come back on next time you reboot. Check out this website http://www.blackviper.com/ for suggestions on Windows services that can be disabled and directions on how to do it.

[ilovefooffur]

You might want to add more memory.  Memory is cheap nowadays.

[Dan:]

You might want to add more memory. Memory is cheap nowadays.

and it is also very easy to install

[Micro]

You have a memory leak.

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_can_i_fix_too_little_virtual_memory_in_windows.html

[Dan:]

You have a memory leak.

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_can_i_fix_too_little_virtual_memory_in_windows.html

You'll see in this Task Manager shot that Mozilla Firefox is taking up the most virtual memory at about 237 MB, with Internet Explorer the next biggest at about 81 MB. (the number of KB divided by 1024 equals MB) For both, this is the consequence of leaving them open for more than a week straight. Almost every application will use more memory the longer you keep it open, though some are worse than others. This is one reason that Windows becomes more and more unresponsive the longer you keep it running, and why you end up eeding to restart your computer periodically.

-From the link Micro posted

I never knew that about leaving programs running and needing to restart the computer periodically...

[BassnMan Mike]

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it's short of RAM Random Access Memory, which is the memory used when running programs.

You need to increase the virtual memory size. To do this you first need to determine how much RAM you have. Right click my computer go to properties and take note of the physical RAM.

Click the Advanced tab, and then in the Performance area click Settings. Click the Advanced tab, and then in the Virtual memory area click Change. Change the Initial Size and Maximum size text boxes to 1.5 times the physical RAM you have. Click Set.. Click OK a few times until the system reboots.

If that does not solve your problem then you must add more RAM.

Also, it NEVER hurts to Tune Up your system, run scan disk first then defrag the system yes it will take awhile especially if it has not been done in awhile

[Ellesar]

Your problem can be helped by addin gmore RAM, but that may not be enough. Virtual memory is disk space the OS uses as memory. No computer has enough RAM to run the OS completely in memory, they use alot of ram. So that's solved by taking the things that aren't currently being used and writing them to the disk so that your actual memory space can be used by active programs because its much faster. Adding RAM might help reduce the amount of disk space you need, but usually that error message is a result of the hard drive getting too full and adding RAM isn't going to solve it even if it does help overall performance. You really have 2 solutions. Clean the disk to free up space (you will be suprised at how much temporary junk is left on the computer) or buy a bigger hard drive. Ultimately it all boils down to needing more free hard drive space.

I wouldn't go messing with the virual memory settings. Windows almost always does a better job of handling that than a person does. It actual has some interesting algorithms it uses to determine how much space to reservce for swap files.

[.dsaavedra.]

my local disk C is 177 GB total space, with 23.0 GB free space. should i try clearing it out?

[Ellesar]

my local disk C is 177 GB total space, with 23.0 GB free space. should i try clearing it out?

Thats what  I would try to do first. Basically you are getting that message because Windows has determined that it needs a swap file larger than 23 gb, that doesn't mean its using that much, but its just calculated that it needs more than that. You will likely have several gigs tied up in things like Temporary Internet Files, possibly the recycle bin. You will probably have software installed that you don't run anymore. That's one of the things I've noticed in my years dealing with computers, there's no such thing as too big whne it comes to hard drive space. People will just leave more crap on their computers wyhen they have large hard drives because they don't have to clear it off.

In your start menu under Accessories -> Ssytem Tools is the Disk Cleanup utility. That can be a good place to start, but its not as good as some of the third party tools that are available.

Before I did that I'd make a backup of my disk, or atleast a restore point in case you delete something you don't intend.

[MitchIsFishin]

Virtually mem settings can be easily tuned, as long as you know what you're doing. My main box has 8gb ram/2TB of disk space, so I rarely run out of room for anything, but here are some issues to consider:

1. Some Windows applications require access to a paging file so they can operate properly, and will crash if you try to run them with the paging file disabled. check it.

2. When Vista creates a paging file, it normally creates one that's twice the size of physical memory, sometimes more than that (actual values depend on free space available on the target drive(s) at the time the page file is situated). Microsoft recommends no less than the amount of physical memory plus 300 MB for the minimum value, and sets the maximum at three times the amount of RAM installed in a PC. Conventional wisdom is that the defaults are fine, particularly on drives that have sufficient free space to allocate three times RAM to the paging file as an ultimate high-water mark. Keep this in mind when considering ram to vm relationship.

3.Windows itself prefers to have access to a paging file, if only to help it manage the process of loading and unloading applications scheduled for execution (on the way in with Win7) or for termination or swap-out (this is going away).

And yes, never hurts to merely restart periodically, and clean out the cache/temp files.