Low virtual memory error

[Aaron Gutierrez]

Hi, I'm getting a lot of "low virtual memory errors" and
my laptop is getting very slow. I already increased the
paging file sizes(both min and max). Win2000, 20GB HD, 64
MB RAM. Should I get more RAM for my laptop or is there
another way to solve my problem. I'll appreciate any
suggestions. Have a nice day.

 

[Dan Seur]

Your drive may be near capacity. If so, delete some unnecessary files.
Also, run chkdsk. Also, defragment all partitions. Instructions for all
these steps are in Start/Help. Post back in this thread if none of this
helps, with more detail of any recent changes to the system. 64MB is the
minimum RAMsize for W2k, by the way, and it limps along at the best of
times with such limited resource.

If this is an elderly laptop, the processor may also be relatively slow,
and if you are running with a single 20GB partition on the hard drive
that might slow things down a bit too. You might consider a newer
machine, or a simpler version of Windows like W98, or stripping the
laptop of applications you don't really need but may keep running in the
background as a matter of habit.

The system's "low virt mem" message may be an indication that with the
apps you are running there is a great deal of paging occurring, a
condition called "thrashing." If the OS spends all its time swapping the
pagefile in and out, it has little time left to do productive work on
your apps. More RAM can indded help, but consider the above carefully.