memory problems on windows xp

[Guest]

my computers hard drive memory is low, i have tried deleting unused files and
have done a disk cleanup but none of this has increased the memory size. I
cant defrag as i only have 7% of memory. please help!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Memory has nothing to do with hard drives. Free space is what you're
referring to.

Windows built in defrag needs 15% free space on the hard drive in order to
work. Defrag needs a place to store files while it moves them around on the
drive.

[[A volume must have at least 15% free space for defrag to completely and
adequately defragment it. Defrag uses this space as a sorting area for file
fragments. If a volume has less than 15% free space, defrag will only
partially defragment it. To increase the free space on a volume, delete
unneeded files or move them to another disk. ]]

[[Although the defragmentation tools can partially defragment volumes that
have less than 15 percent free space, for best results delete unneeded files
or move them to another volume to increase the free space to at least 15
percent. You can also use the Disk Cleanup tool to delete unnecessary
files. For more information about Disk Cleanup, see Windows XP Help.]]

You can use Disk Cleanup to free up space on your hard disk by removing
temporary Internet files, removing installed components and programs that
you no longer use, and emptying the Recycle Bin.

Disk Cleanup helps free up space on your hard drive. Disk Cleanup searches
your drive, and then shows you temporary files, Internet cache files, and
unnecessary program files that you can safely delete. You can direct Disk
Cleanup to delete some or all of those files.

Removing unneeded files
When running an operating system as complex as Windows, you may not always
know the significance of all the files on your computer. Sometimes Windows
uses files for a specific purpose and then retains them in a folder
designated for temporary files. Alternatively, you may have previously
installed Windows components that you are no longer using. For a variety of
reasons, including running out of space on your hard drive, you may want to
reduce the number of files on your disk, or create more free space, if it
can be done without harming any of your programs.

Use the Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard to perform all of the following tasks to
clear space on your hard disk:

* Remove temporary Internet files.
* Remove any downloaded program files (ActiveX controls and Java applets
downloaded from the Internet).
* Empty the Recycle Bin.
* Remove Windows temporary files.
* Remove Windows components that you are not using.
* Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Note
To start Disk Cleanup, click Start, click Run, and then type cleanmgr.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Jim]

my computers hard drive memory is low, i have tried deleting unused files
and
have done a disk cleanup but none of this has increased the memory size.
I
cant defrag as i only have 7% of memory. please help!

You should avoid using "memory" for "disk space". These items are not the
same.

If, after doing all of the things that Wes mentioned, you still have only 7%
free disk space, then your only alternative is to replace the disk with one
which has more disk space.

One other thought, did the message you recieved say "virtual memory"?
Windows means by such a message that your pagefile is too small. You should
let Windows manage the size of the pagefile. With only 7% free disk space,
Windows may have a hard time increasing the size of the pagefile..

Jim

 

[Guest]

Memory has nothing to do with hard drives. Free space is what you're
referring to.

Windows built in defrag needs 15% free space on the hard drive in order to
work. Defrag needs a place to store files while it moves them around on the
drive.

[[A volume must have at least 15% free space for defrag to completely and
adequately defragment it. Defrag uses this space as a sorting area for file
fragments. If a volume has less than 15% free space, defrag will only
partially defragment it. To increase the free space on a volume, delete
unneeded files or move them to another disk. ]]

[[Although the defragmentation tools can partially defragment volumes that
have less than 15 percent free space, for best results delete unneeded files
or move them to another volume to increase the free space to at least 15
percent. You can also use the Disk Cleanup tool to delete unnecessary
files. For more information about Disk Cleanup, see Windows XP Help.]]

You can use Disk Cleanup to free up space on your hard disk by removing
temporary Internet files, removing installed components and programs that
you no longer use, and emptying the Recycle Bin.

Disk Cleanup helps free up space on your hard drive. Disk Cleanup searches
your drive, and then shows you temporary files, Internet cache files, and
unnecessary program files that you can safely delete. You can direct Disk
Cleanup to delete some or all of those files.

Removing unneeded files
When running an operating system as complex as Windows, you may not always
know the significance of all the files on your computer. Sometimes Windows
uses files for a specific purpose and then retains them in a folder
designated for temporary files. Alternatively, you may have previously
installed Windows components that you are no longer using. For a variety of
reasons, including running out of space on your hard drive, you may want to
reduce the number of files on your disk, or create more free space, if it
can be done without harming any of your programs.

Use the Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard to perform all of the following tasks to
clear space on your hard disk:

* Remove temporary Internet files.
* Remove any downloaded program files (ActiveX controls and Java applets
downloaded from the Internet).
* Empty the Recycle Bin.
* Remove Windows temporary files.
* Remove Windows components that you are not using.
* Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Note
To start Disk Cleanup, click Start, click Run, and then type cleanmgr.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

my computers hard drive memory is low, i have tried deleting unused files
and have done a disk cleanup but none of this has increased the memory
size. I cant defrag as i only have 7% of memory. please help!

thanks for your help but i have just tried what you suggested and free space is still low, is my only alternative to get another drive to extend my memory? i had a email from a company saying that the problem could be due to a registry problem, making my computer leak memory, it was saying i needed to download one of their programs to fix the problem, but i wasn't sure if this was genuine or not.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Memory has nothing to do with a hard drive. Hard drives are where you store
files on your machine. "Memory more commonly known as RAM, memory is a
location where information is stored that is currently being utilized by the
operating system, software program, hardware device, and/or the user." They
are two physical different items inside your computer case.

Memory leak has nothing to do with it and the message was probably spam.

"...a memory leak is a particular kind of unintentional memory consumption
by a computer program where the program fails to release memory when no
longer needed. The term is meant as a humorous misnomer, since memory is not
physically lost from the computer. Rather, memory is allocated to a program,
and that program subsequently loses the ability to access it due to program
logic flaws."

If your hard drive is too full you probably need to install another one.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Memory has nothing to do with hard drives. Free space is what you're
referring to.

Windows built in defrag needs 15% free space on the hard drive in order
to
work. Defrag needs a place to store files while it moves them around on
the
drive.

[[A volume must have at least 15% free space for defrag to completely and
adequately defragment it. Defrag uses this space as a sorting area for
file
fragments. If a volume has less than 15% free space, defrag will only
partially defragment it. To increase the free space on a volume, delete
unneeded files or move them to another disk. ]]

[[Although the defragmentation tools can partially defragment volumes
that
have less than 15 percent free space, for best results delete unneeded
files
or move them to another volume to increase the free space to at least 15
percent. You can also use the Disk Cleanup tool to delete unnecessary
files. For more information about Disk Cleanup, see Windows XP Help.]]

You can use Disk Cleanup to free up space on your hard disk by removing
temporary Internet files, removing installed components and programs that
you no longer use, and emptying the Recycle Bin.

Disk Cleanup helps free up space on your hard drive. Disk Cleanup
searches
your drive, and then shows you temporary files, Internet cache files, and
unnecessary program files that you can safely delete. You can direct Disk
Cleanup to delete some or all of those files.

Removing unneeded files
When running an operating system as complex as Windows, you may not
always
know the significance of all the files on your computer. Sometimes
Windows
uses files for a specific purpose and then retains them in a folder
designated for temporary files. Alternatively, you may have previously
installed Windows components that you are no longer using. For a variety
of
reasons, including running out of space on your hard drive, you may want
to
reduce the number of files on your disk, or create more free space, if it
can be done without harming any of your programs.

Use the Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard to perform all of the following
tasks to
clear space on your hard disk:

* Remove temporary Internet files.
* Remove any downloaded program files (ActiveX controls and Java applets
downloaded from the Internet).
* Empty the Recycle Bin.
* Remove Windows temporary files.
* Remove Windows components that you are not using.
* Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Note
To start Disk Cleanup, click Start, click Run, and then type cleanmgr.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

my computers hard drive memory is low, i have tried deleting unused
files and have done a disk cleanup but none of this has increased the
memory size. I cant defrag as i only have 7% of memory. please help!

thanks for your help but i have just tried what you suggested and free
space is still low, is my only alternative to get another drive to
extend my memory? i had a email from a company saying that the problem
could be due to a registry problem, making my computer leak memory, it
was saying i needed to download one of their programs to fix the
problem, but i wasn't sure if this was genuine or not.

 

[Guest]

Hi Sarah,

what size is the Hard drive ? Just so we know we are talking about the Hard
Disk and not available memory can you do this -
Open up ' My computer '
Right click the drive that you think is low - usually the C: drive.
Choose ' Properties '
A pie chart appears showing the space available. Is this the area you are
referring to ?
If so - and you have deleted all the documents / temporary files etc and it
is still low on space you could do a few things.
Firstly, you could add another drive to the system and transfer your
documents over to it. You could also uninstall applications from your C:
drive and re-install them on the new drive is necessary to free up space for
windows to operate properly.
Adding another drive to the system could mean an internal or external (
often USB ) Hard Drive.
Alternatively, you could image your Hard drive using a good drive image
program ( such as Acronis True Image ) and transfer your system ( its called
imaging ) onto a larger hard drive. You can find details about this on google
under ' disk imaging software '. This will in effect transfer everything on
your drive and place it onto another drive - and you wont notice any
difference at all once it has completed.