VIRTUAL MEMORY

[Guest]

Okay guys....I changed to s ystem manage size for my RAM and i am still
getting the message that i am low on virtual memory. I have basically
nothing in this computer so I know it isnt possible to have no memory! I
have virus protection and spyware protection in my system..but my question
is, is it possible there is a virus in my computer that my virus scan is not
picking up ? and that is why i have no memory? I am wondiering if I should
just take everything out of my computer and start over again..any thoughts ?

Thanks again : ) Sue

 

[Glen]

Make sure the anti virus and anti spyware have up to date definitions and
run full scans. Some antisypware dont have real time protection they only
detect malware when you run full scans. Do Ctrl + Alt + Del have a look at
the the performance tab, physical memory. Repost with available.
Have a look on the process tab for unusual processes or any using large
amounts of ram. Download hijack this
from http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html it is a more thorough
process list. Is there any reason you are using fat32 instead of
ntfs. You probably upgraded from 9x if so you should convert to ntfs. This
wont fix your problem but its a far superior file system.

Glen P

 

[Guest]

Okay I downloaded that software u suggested except I am afraid to delete
anything because I dont know what I should or should not delete. I did run a
virus scan both from the nortons that I have and also from live update,
microsoft, and it did find a virus and supposedly fixed it, although my
nortons did not pick anything up.

In task manager, I have Total physical memory of: 523568; available 80,288
(keeps changing) and system cahce 180332 (keeps changing) and I'm not sure
what any of those things are on the process list, I recognize some of them,
but some of them I dont know what they are.

I dont know why i am using fat32..thats what came with my computer I guess,
when I loaded from the disc that was supplied to me upon purchase of the
computer is that what u are talking about ? I dont know what u mean about
upgrading from 9x...ahhh i dont know a lot of things!

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Susan

How large is your hard drive? Is it partitioned? How much free space on
each drive / partition. To get this information whilst in Windows Explorer
place the cursor on each drive in turn, right click and select Properties.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Glen]

One thought I just had. When you changed the setting from a fixed page file
to system managed, did you click the "set" button because if you only
selected system managed but didn't set it the system wouldn't change it.
Double check before doing anything else. If you do need to reset it reboot
after.

Download microsofts antispyware program as its quite good at picking up
things. In task manager look at the performance tab and repost the PF Usage
(page file usage). I dont quite understand what program you say found the
virus. Live update is Nortons update feature. Windows update is Microsfts
update feature but it wont find viruses it updates Windows. What virus was
found? Essentially you need to have enough ram for the programs you want
open, enough free space on the C: drive and you said over 70 GB free. There
are limitations with fat32 and partition size so you should convert as soon
as possible. However, make sure you have no virus or malware before you
start. 9x is the term given to the old Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME line of
operating systems. Quite often computers that have been upgraded from one of
those to XP have fat32 as the file system. You can convert to ntfs quite
easily and it is recomended. Read the article
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php for the relevent info.

When you looked at task manager did any of the running proccesses use a
large amount of memory. I have 512 mb ram and my page file usage is 695 mb
with 10GB free space. Most of my running processes are under 2mb with about
7 processes using over 10 mb with one of those using 55mb. I tell you this
just to give you an idea. You need to see if anything is using more than
would seem reasonable. Hard to know if you dont know about computers I know.
Are you using one of those memory managers which free up memory. They do it
by pushing programs out of ram into the page file filling it up. They are a
complete waste of money. After you've looked at memory usage noting
anything unusual click start run and type msconfig. On the startup tab
remove ticks from all programs except essential programs like AV. Reboot and
use the computer as you would normally and see how the system performs. My
guess would be something is using a lot of ram forcing the computer to swap
out and the page file is limited in some way.

Glen P

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Glen

My page file usage is 695 mb

How are you getting this figure? Task Manager does provide this information!

You may check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with
Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

If you get anything much more than 50 mb virtual memory
usage for most users this means you need to add RAM
memory. The system uses virtual memory for a limited
number of tasks rather than RAM memory.

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Yes, I did click "set" and the settings did stay because I did check that. I
have also downloaded the microsoft antisypware, along with other spyware
software i have in my computer and the computer comes out clean when i run
the software.

I dont know if this will help but Im gonna try to explain...I'm not really
sure if my hardrive is partitioned or not (i dont know how to tell), the
reason being, there was someone who worked on my computer when I first got it
and instead of him loading the XP that came with he he chose to install
W/2000, which was fine until i started having some problems ( i believe at
the time he DID partition the hardrive). Once I started having problems I
decided to just wipe out adn go back to my original XP that was given to me
when i purchased the computer because the 2000 disc I didnt have any longer,
as it didnt belong to me. Anyway I did not partition my hard drive to my
knowledge but since I really dont know too much about computers, I dont know
if it stayed that way, if you understand what I am trying to say. Also, I
did notice today when I was searching the files on my hardrive, I think there
are still traces of 2000 in my computer, dont know if they are suppose to be
there or not.

So should I go ahead and still upgrade to the ntfs ? I don't know its so
much, I feel like Im not undersanding it all...ahhhhh


Anyway, thank you Glen for helping me out I appreciate it more then u
know!!!!!


Sue

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Sue

Leave the issue of whether to convert the drive from FAT32 to NTFS. NTFS
has it's advantages but it is not part of the problem you are reporting.
Equally
spyware does cause problems and slow a computer but it does not cause
"low on virtual memory" messages.

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure that
you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View,
Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is
unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should
also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types"
is not checked.

It seems to may need to learn about Windows Explorer. This is a Windows
application within Windows XP, which displays the structure of folders and
files on your hard disk. It is a major source of information about your
computer and is an alternative route to editing Word and Excel files.

To access Windows Explorer select Start, All Programs, Accessories,
Windows Explorer. In Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total
Size, and Free Space.

In Windows Explorer you can have many different view settings, which until
you master them can be frustrating. The screen is normally divided into two
windows, the right window containing detail. The left screen often defaults
to
a Search menu. You can switch from Search to Folders by clicking on the
Folders button under the Menu bar. To revert to Search click on the Search
button

Having selected the folders view you will see the Directory Tree in the left
Window. The head of the Tree is Desktop and My Computer is one of
several sub-folders. Listed under My Computer are your drives and
partitions. Usually but not always these also have letter designations.

Your floppy drive is invariably your A drive. Commonly C is the main hard
drive but it may only be the first partition of the main hard drive. Further
drives and partitions are lettered as they are added. You will also see your
CD and / or DVD drive(s). You can have more than one hard drive and
some users have removable drives.

To find out about free space on any drive ( try C drive ) place the cursor
on
the drive in the left window, right click, select Properties and this will
tell you
the size of the drive. the used space and the free space. Post this
information and we can determine whether the amount of free space is
your problem.

Putting a shortcut on your Desktop can be helpful.

How To Customize the Windows Explorer Views in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307856/en-us

How to Change Column Settings in Windows Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310297/en-us

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Wow, that was a lot of information to retain, but I did check and uncheck
what you suggested, I dont knwo what that was supposed to do, but I did it.
I dont believe my hardrive is partitioned anymore, I just have C, A, D and F
drive thats all that I can see.

My total space on c drive is 93.1 gb and available is 78.1, which seems like
an awful lot to me.

Also, I did get the message again this morning, and I checked through task
manager and i was using 1.12 gb PF usage which was considerably more then
yesterday and i have the same applications open.


I will try later on to click on those links that u sent me, and see if that
helps, but Im starting to think maybe my computer is just dying on me idk is
that possible ?

Anyway, thanks again, as always you are incredibly helpful!

Sue

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Susan

What are your D and F drives? Are they CD / DVD drives?

In Windows Explorer use the search facility to search for pagefile.sys.
Search All Files and Folders and use the Advanced Options by
checking the boxes before the first three items there. These are
Search System folder, Search Hidden Files and Folders and search
Sub-folders.

Do you have one or two pagefile.sys files? On which drive(s) is it to
be found?

Based on your available free disk space the amount you have should
not create a problem. However, are you using any Norton programmes
e.g. Norton Internet Security?

You can get programmes creating unreasonable demands for virtual
memory. A 1.12 gb PF usage in Task Manager is high and it merits
investigation. However, I need to say that Task Manager does not report
PF usage. Are you looking at the Processes or Performance Tab in
Task Manager?

On the Performance tab what are the three figures listed under Commit
Charge?

Next go to the Processes tab and select View, Columns and
check the boxes before Memory Usage, Peak Memory Usage, and
Virtual Memory Size. Now look for the four processes showing the largest
Memory Usage. What are there Image Names?

Corrupted files can cause virtual memory problems. A common one occurs
with Microsoft Word. Do you use this programme?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Glen]

Gerry the pf usage on task manager is the amount of page file being used.

Susan if the error message you are getting is just an informational message
telling you windows is increasing the virtual memory becasuse you need more,
then that is how its supposed to be. If the error is telling you you have no
space to increase the virtual memory, then you have a space related problem.
Try and note the exact error message you are getting. Depending on the error
message you can look at what needs to be done to fix it. Your page file
usage does seem excessive and I still think you need to look at what is
using the eccessive amount of memory. The way windows works is programs use
ram and when windows runs low on ram windows pushes programs out of ram into
virtual memory. This is a very simplistic way to look at memory mangement
but it is correct.

Glen P

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Glen

"Gerry the pf usage on task manager is the amount of
page file being used."

Task Manager does not provide information on pagefile
usage. It records allocations of pagefile to applications,
which may or may not be used.

"Your page file usage does seem excessive".

You should not be making that judgement based on
information from Task Manager.

You may check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with
Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

"The way windows works is programs use ram and when
windows runs low on ram windows pushes programs out
of ram into virtual memory. "

As you say simplistic. The system uses virtual memory for
a limited number of tasks rather than RAM memory. The
use of virtual memory can be much more significant on
systems when photo and video editing are carried out. The
use of undo in these and graphics applications will result
in much large use of the pagefile.

Have another look at this link:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Do not rely on early Microsoft documentation written
shortly before or at the time of the introduction of Windows
XP.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Hey Glen .


Yes the message I am getting is saying that windows is increasing the
virtual memory, so I guess as you said, that is normal. But I guess I am
wondering why I am having this issue if I have a lot of memory. I think its
time for me to call in the "geek squad".

lol

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Susan

Check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with
Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

What programmes are you running when you get these messages?
Any photo or video editing?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Glen]

Susan as its an informational message you need to try and find the program
using the excessive memory. Open task manger, process tab and click at the
top where it says mem usage. This will line up all the memory used by
programs. See which one is using the most next time you get the page file
warning. I would also run things like microsoft antispyware, adaware, sypbot
s&d these will all look for spyware.

microsoft antispyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

adaware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

sypbot s&d
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/4.html

Hijack This
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/


Something is using the memory and running these which are free will show you
if its spyware/malware, also make sure your antivirus is up to date and
working properly. Hijack this will log all the running programs on your
computer and create a log you can email to people to help track down any
malware. http://castlecops.com is a good place for spyware related help or
google for plenty more.

Glen P