well my computer has been acting very strange lately im thinking about
taking to a profession but i dont really have alot of money to do that an
well i erased all my songs games chat thingies an well nothing has changed
its still says i have low virtual memorie its driving me insane an these
icons keep apprearing even thoe i never went to that site ..an its very
eritating plz help or i will probly destroy this computer
As stated above, conduct AdAware and Spybot sweeps of your
computer. Keep in mind that each time you go on the net, you put your
computer at risk not just for viruses but also for being invaded by
tons of programs called spyware. These programs are downloaded onto
your computer and the party causing it to be installed uses these
programs to get information on you through your web-surfing
activities. Each of these programs uses up RAM, slows down your
surfing, and adds junk to your computer (this is where those icons are
coming from). How do these programs get on there? Often it is
through your downloading activities (often they are bundled together
with downloads like KaZaa) however these programmers have now got it
so that these programs download even when you're not actively
downloading anything. AdAware and Spybot can identify these leeches
and destroy them. I would run both since neither program is thorough
(and unfortunately both programs combined are still not thorough).
As for low virtual memory, virtual memory is hard drive space that
your computer uses to store temporary files, etc., when it can't use
RAM because the RAM is being used up. Given your description, it
sounds like you have a lot of spyware on your computer which may be
the cause of your RAM being used up. Also, if you have any programs
which update themselves when you're on the net (example Norton
Anti-virus), these also use up RAM and you may want to toggle off the
live update option.
If all else fails, you may need to clean up your hard drive.
Before you delete anything, however (other than spyware, of course),
you should know that when the computer needs virtual memory to run a
program it wants a chunk of open space on your hard drive. However,
when programs are saved on a hard drive they are saved in fragments
which are sprinkled all over. This has the effect of making your hard
drive look like a comb. Think of your computer's need for virtual
memory as being akin to that of a developer looking for a big chunk of
land on which to build a building and yet not have to tear down
anything. There are two blocks, each with the same number and size of
vacant lots and occupied lots, however, Block 1 has all the occupied
lots at one end and a big chunk of vacancies on the other whereas
Block 2 has the same number of vacant lots but interspersed in between
occupied lots. All other thing being equal, the developer will choose
Block 1. That said, you need to reorganize your hard drive so that it
appears more like Block 1. To do this you can run the Defragmenter
program that comes with Windows (how to access it will depend on which
Windows version you have). This program essentially recopies your
files (don't worry, it won't loose anything) and places them into a
more organized form. It takes a long time so run it over night or
when you're away. Defragmenting will likely open up a block of free
space for the computer to use as virtual memory without your having to
delete anything.
