Virtual memory

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Guest

Hello I keep getting a window popping up that says that my virtual memory is
low and then it also mentions paging files. As you can tell I am not computer
literate so I would appreciate and explanation in simple terms.
thank you in advance.
Wendy
 
Hello I keep getting a window popping up that says that my virtual memory is
low and then it also mentions paging files. As you can tell I am not computer
literate so I would appreciate and explanation in simple terms.
thank you in advance.
Wendy
Click to expand...

Right-click "My Computer", "Properties", "Advanced" tab. Under Performance section, click the
"Settings" button, "Advanced" tab, under the Virtual memory section, click the "Change" button,
and check the option, "System managed size". Click the "Set" button, click "OK", "Apply", and
"OK" your way out.

Virtual Memory in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
 
If this keeps happening after following the advice already offered can you
post back and let us know, the reason I say that is because this error may
simply be a wrong setting (Which the advice will fix) or it may be a symptom
of something else - and then it's the "Something else" that needs fixed.
Some people are real shy about asking twice, don't be.

If it does keep on happening or you experience other problems please include
some more details about the system.

Operating system, (XP) Home or Pro
Service Pack (If any)
Size of memory (RAM)
Size of hard disk(s) and how much free space (Roughly)
How often you visit "Windows Update" (Automatic is best setting for most
people)
Security Software being used (Can interfere with other things sometimes)
Whether you recently checked for Spyware (HUGE problem these days)
Did you do or see anything just before the problem started (Example install
some new software)

This really helps us to guess what "Something else" might be when you first
ask the question, which saves you a bit of time in many cases.

For the problem you mention the size of memory, the free space on the hard
disks and what software you are running (if any) when it happens might be
major clues.

If you consider yourself less than computer literate read up about Spyware
(Which is now a worse nuisance than viruses) but do be careful about so
called repair programs, many are either junk or actually install spyware, it
is truly a criminal phenomenon based on deception. Visit the update site and
read what Microsoft have to say about security, set aside some time to do
that if you can. Don't be paranoid, just careful :)

Charlie
 
Wendy -

I am too having the same problem as you. I went ahead and changed my
settings and I'm afriad that it didn't work for me. I am interested in
knowing how you made out..if it worked for you.

I think I've exhausted every single possibility other than just wiping out
my entire computer. Anyway, just interested in your results!

Thanks...Sue
 
Susan, you might try looking for things amiss like spyware too, sometimes
these kinds of errors are "Fall through" errors or "Cumulative" errors, in
other words they don't point to the actual problem but to something that's
the result of the original problem.

It's like getting an error saying "Your motor has stopped" without having a
"Low Gas" warning go off first. Tells you what has happened but not why. It
is possible something is eating up resources, in this case your memory,
which in itself does not cause an error until it's nearly all eaten then the
operating system has to give up.

Did the change of settings make any difference to the length of time before
the error popped up or is it too random to tell? Are you running any fancy
system maintenance software like Norton Systemworks etc?

The problem with just reinstalling the operating system is that if you don't
know what caused this it may well happen again. Can you associate the start
of the problem with any event?

Charlie
 
Susan said:
Wendy -

I am too having the same problem as you. I went ahead and changed my
settings and I'm afriad that it didn't work for me. I am interested in
knowing how you made out..if it worked for you.

I think I've exhausted every single possibility other than just wiping out
my entire computer. Anyway, just interested in your results!

Thanks...Sue
Click to expand...

Try disabling the page file, and reboot. Go to the drive/folder where
the page file was kept and if there is a pagefile.sys file delete it.
Reboot again, re-enable the page file to system managed, and reboot
again. See if that helps.
 
Hi Charlie...

I guess I forgot to mention that I do have spyware and adware running on
computer and run it every day..also comes up clean. I do have Nortons
antivirus/spyware/firewall running, but this problem started bofore I
installed that software.

I changed the settings yesterday, went to bed and when I got up this morning
(i left my computer on), the message was there. I do notice that the notice
comes up more frequently when away from the computer. I have yet to get the
notice today as of yet. I will see what happens tomorrow I guess.

Thanks so much for taking the time totry to help me out, you have no idea
how much I appreciate it!!!!!!

Sue

:
 
Susan said:
I'm sorry...I don't understand what u mean ?? Can u explain where to do that
stuff ?

:
Click to expand...

Right click My Computer, choose Properties, Advanced tab, Settings under
Performance, Advanced tab, Change under Virtual Memory. Highlight the
drive with the pagefile and put a tic mark in No page file. Click Set.
Ok out. Reboot. Use those same steps to reverse it.
 
=?Utf-8?B?d2VuZHk=?= said:
Hello I keep getting a window popping up that says that my virtual memory is
low and then it also mentions paging files. As you can tell I am not computer
literate so I would appreciate and explanation in simple terms.
Click to expand...

How much free space you you have left on C: ?
 
Hi Plato:

I am running FAT32...FREE SPACE 78.1 GB, TOTAL: 93.1 gb, so it appears i
have plenty of space on my hard drive..and I've done everything that everyone
has suggested and i am still getting the message, I just dont know what to do
anymore its so frustrating!
 
Sometimes the Pagefile.Sys gets "Orphaned", it's there but won't
respond to resizing or movement. I've seen this on a few PCs &
it was, best I remember a 8.2 on the 10 point "Why won't this
damn thing work?" scale. No matter how I configured it, On/Off
or size it would remain at a "Fixed" size. I think I had to remove
the PagingFiles Key/value in Memory Management, Boot to Safe
mode and set Security access & delete the orphaned Pagefile &
then re-establish it on the next boot.
 
Susan said:
Hi Plato:

I am running FAT32...FREE SPACE 78.1 GB, TOTAL: 93.1 gb, so it appears i
have plenty of space on my hard drive..and I've done everything that
everyone
has suggested and i am still getting the message, I just dont know what to
do
anymore its so frustrating!
Click to expand...

Some of the stuff I have collected :
Problems with Virtual Memory
E.G :
"This program requires at least 3Mb of virtual memory"

It may sometimes happen that the system give 'out of memory' messages
in trying to load a program, or give a message about Virtual memory
space being low. Possible causes of this are:

The setting for Maximum Size of the page file is too low, or there is not
enough disk space free to expand it to that size.

In Win XP a setting that resolves old programs written in Director 5 or 6
is to set Minimum Size to 500Mb, and
Max Size not to exceed 2048Mb (total of RAM and Page File)
(i.e. If RAM is 1024Mb - Max Page File set to 1024Mb)
Some Gaming gurus suggest :
Min 500 - Max 500
Min 4000 - Max 4000
In other words "fiddling" with Page File Size may resolve problems
and/or cause other program problems.

The page file has become corrupt, possibly at a bad shutdown.
In the Virtual Memory settings, set to "No page file," then exit
System Properties, shut down the machine, and reboot.
Delete PAGEFILE.SYS (on each drive, if more than just C:),
set the page file up again and reboot to bring it into use.

The page file has been put on a different drive without leaving
a minimal amount on C:.

There is trouble with third party software. In particular, if the message
happens at shutdown, suspect a problem with Symantec's
Norton Live update, for which there is a fix avail from Symantec.
It is also reported that spurious messages can arise if NAV 2004 is
installed.
If the problem happens at boot and the machine has an Intel chipset,
the message may be caused by an early version (before version 2.1)
of Intel's "Application Accelerator." Uninstall this and then get an
up-to-date version from Intel's site.

Possibly there is trouble with the drivers for IDE hard disks;
in Device Manager, remove the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
(main controller) and reboot for Plug and Play to start over.
 
Okay, if you see it more when away then it may be something that is taking
advantage of "Idle" time...

Your settings will be different to mine and I can't recall exactly where but
start>search for files and folders will bring up the search window and in
there somewhere is the option to turn "Indexing service" on or off... this
runs in "Idle time" so turn it off, it appears to be as much use as an
ashtray on a motorbike anyway.

Disk defragmenters sometimes do "Idle time" tasks too, do you have anything
like that? Norton Systemworks used to have one, anything you know of on
there similar?

You do mean Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy I hope, not some similar
sounding thing you got a pop up window about, many of the latter are
themselves spyware and only "Detect" the competitors.

I will also suggest going into OE options and turning off "Compact messages
in the background" if it's turned on and then IE options and clear the
temporary internet files - you may already have done these and they may well
be quite irrelevant but both "Can" trigger background activity. I do agree
with the other responses by the way, but there's no point in everyone
pursuing the same line of diagnosis and so I'm going with the "Unlikely". If
there is not something wrong with the virtual memory itself then some kind
of badly written software with a serious memory leak might be the cause.


Charlie
 
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