Virtual Memory Change on WinXP

[Arcadian]

I'd like to change my virtual memory to speed up my computer but can't
reach the Virtual Memory section in my computer. The Microsoft site's
tutorial says to go to My Computer, Properties, then System
Properties. But I can't find Properties in My Computer. I right
clicked Hard Drive & selected Properties on the menu, but that doesn't
contain System Properties. I went to my own computer's Help and
Search to find System Properties, & it says to go to Control Panel,
Performance and Maintenance, Administrative Tools, then Computer
Management. But that has no System Properties section either. I'd
like to ask Microsoft but they charge $59 just to answer a question.
Do any of you know how I can get to my Virtual Memory to change it?

 

[John Wunderlich]

:

I'd like to change my virtual memory to speed up my computer but
can't reach the Virtual Memory section in my computer. The
Microsoft site's tutorial says to go to My Computer, Properties,
then System Properties. But I can't find Properties in My
Computer. I right clicked Hard Drive & selected Properties on the
menu, but that doesn't contain System Properties. I went to my
own computer's Help and Search to find System Properties, & it
says to go to Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance,
Administrative Tools, then Computer Management. But that has no
System Properties section either. I'd like to ask Microsoft but
they charge $59 just to answer a question. Do any of you know how
I can get to my Virtual Memory to change it?

_Right-Click_ "My Computer" then Properties -> Advanced Tab ->
[Performance area] "Settings" -> "Advanced" Tab ->
Virtual Memory section "Change".

HTH,
John

 

[Leonard Grey]

Why do you think that changing virtual memory will speed up your computer?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I'd like to change my virtual memory to speed up my computer but
can't reach the Virtual Memory section in my computer. The
Microsoft site's tutorial says to go to My Computer, Properties,
then System Properties. But I can't find Properties in My
Computer. I right clicked Hard Drive & selected Properties on the
menu, but that doesn't contain System Properties. I went to my own
computer's Help and Search to find System Properties, & it says to
go to Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Administrative
Tools, then Computer Management. But that has no System Properties
section either. I'd like to ask Microsoft but they charge $59 just
to answer a question. Do any of you know how I can get to my
Virtual Memory to change it?

Please provide Operating system (edition and service pack level,
the more detail, the better.):

Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
winver
--> Click OK.

The picture at the top of the window that opens will give you the general
(Operating System name) while the line starting with the word "version" will
give you the rest of the story.

Post _both_ in response to this message verbatim. ;-)

Find out if your user is a member of the local "adminstrators" group...

Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
cmd /k net localgroup administrators
--> Click OK.

Are you (your user account - the one you are logged in with when you run the
command) in the list of "Members" there?

Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
control sysdm.cpl
--> Click OK.

Assuming a few things turn out just right (above answers), and a few other
things; you should see the "System Properties" window and it should have a
total of seven tabs. One of those tabs is "Advanced", you should
select/click-on this tab.

Under this tab heading, you should find three sections, one labeled
"Performance" with a "Settings" button there. Click on the "Settings"
button in the "Performance" section.

This should bring up the "Performance Options" window with three tabs. One
of the tabs should be "Advanced" and that is the tab you should
select/click-on.

The window has three sections, one of which is "Virtual Memory" (bottom) and
that section has a "Change" button you should click-on.

In my opinion, "System Managed Size" is your best option unless you have
some very specific criteria. If you do have said specific criteria - you
left that out here- so my suggestion is to select the "System Managed Size"
radio button and click on the "Set" button, answer in the affirmative to any
questions and then click on each Windows "OK" button until you get back to
the desktop - where you will most likely be asked to reboot (and you
should.)

 

[JS]

I'd like to change my virtual memory to speed up my computer but can't
reach the Virtual Memory section in my computer. The Microsoft site's
tutorial says to go to My Computer, Properties, then System
Properties. But I can't find Properties in My Computer. I right
clicked Hard Drive & selected Properties on the menu, but that doesn't
contain System Properties. I went to my own computer's Help and
Search to find System Properties, & it says to go to Control Panel,
Performance and Maintenance, Administrative Tools, then Computer
Management. But that has no System Properties section either. I'd
like to ask Microsoft but they charge $59 just to answer a question.
Do any of you know how I can get to my Virtual Memory to change it?

Unless you move your pagefile to the first partition of
a second hard drive your not likely to see much if any
improvement.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'd like to change my virtual memory to speed up my computer

You've already gotten some "how-to" answers, but let me add my voice
to those who tell you that changing your virtual memory settings will
almost certainly *not* speed up your computer. In fact, there are some
changes you can make to its settings that will slow your computer
down.

Exactly what were you planning on doing to those settings?

but can't
reach the Virtual Memory section in my computer. The Microsoft site's
tutorial says to go to My Computer, Properties, then System
Properties. But I can't find Properties in My Computer. I right
clicked Hard Drive & selected Properties on the menu,

No, don't right-click the hard drive. Don't go to My Computer at all
(by left-clicking it), but *right-click* My Computer and choose
Properties there.

 

[db]

you missed a couple of steps

its actually control panel>system> advanced......

-------------------

my suggestion is to set your virtual memory
to a customer size with initial = 2 and max = 1150.

--------------------

without knowing the amount of ram you have,

I provide 1150 as a standard amount because
it is likely that you will never use more than
this amount.

however, the formula for is
(1.5) x (the amount of memory) = max

----------------------

I think if you are having an issue with your
computer and feel that it may be the virtual
memory,

then by all means fix it.

-----------------------

however, there are also other things that can
decrease performance of a computer.

incidentally, how much ram do you have
installed on the computer?


--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Jose]

I'd like to change my virtual memory to speed up my computer but can't
reach the Virtual Memory section in my computer.  The Microsoft site's
tutorial says to go to My Computer, Properties, then System
Properties.  But I can't find Properties in My Computer.  I right
clicked Hard Drive & selected Properties on the menu, but that doesn't
contain System Properties.  I went to my own computer's Help and
Search to find System Properties, & it says to go to Control Panel,
Performance and Maintenance, Administrative Tools, then Computer
Management.  But that has no System Properties section either.  I'd
like to ask Microsoft but they charge $59 just to answer a question.
Do any of you know how I can get to my Virtual Memory to change it?

What makes you think adjusting your VM settings will increase the
speed of your system?

If you are having performance issues, the VM settings are not the
first place to look.

Unless you know more about managing your VM than XP does, you should
let XP manage the VM for you. It does a pretty good job by itself.

If you have a problem or error message, give the details of your
problem along with some basic system information:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete from the pasted
information.

This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork and
assumptions.

 

[Arcadian]

I"ve been getting error messages saying my virtual memory is low so
that some applications might be denied. It suggested I consult Help.
I did so, looking up virtual memory & it say that increasing the size
of my virtual memory will transfer the running of many background
programs to hard drive, while RAM handles the programs I want to work
with directly. Right now I don't have the money to pay for increased
RAM.

 

[Jose]

I"ve been getting error messages saying my virtual memory is low so
that some applications might be denied.  It suggested I consult Help.
I did so, looking up virtual memory & it say that increasing the size
of my virtual memory will transfer the running of many background
programs to hard drive, while RAM handles the programs I want to work
with directly.  Right now I don't have the money to pay for increased
RAM.

I think that is an informational message that XP is doing it's job,
not an error.

You should see where your memory is going and see if you
can use what you have to run things more efficiently.

You should still do this:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste the info back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete from the pasted
information.

Next figure out what is using your VM and how much. Here is a crude
but effective method if you don't
know how or are unable to to post screenshots.

Right click the Taskbar, choose Task Manager.

Click View, Select Columns, check the box that says: Virtual Memory
Size. Expand the width of the Task Manager
box so you can see all the columns.

Click the VM Size column heading once or twice to sort biggest to
smallest from top to bottom.

Post back the top 7 lines (the VM heavy hitters are sorted) in the
list and only post these 4 important columns:

Image Name
CPU
Mem Usage
VM Size

The numbers may bounce around a little, but do the best you can.

You should end up with 7 lines that look something like:

Outlook.exe 00 15,536K 24,180K
..
..
..
..
..

 

[Arcadian]

OK! Got it! I right-clicked MY Computer & found my way to the correct
section. I increased the virtual memory to 40000 & my computer
performance has improved greatly.

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate your efforts.

 

[SC Tom]

OK! Got it! I right-clicked MY Computer & found my way to the correct
section. I increased the virtual memory to 40000 & my computer
performance has improved greatly.

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate your efforts.

Wow, hope you have a large hard drive! 40GB is an awfully large page file.

SC Tom

 

[Leonard Grey]

<see below>
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Wow, hope you have a large hard drive! 40GB is an awfully large page file.

SC Tom

He may as well make it 400GB. The joke's on him!

LG