WHAT IS VERTUAL MEMORY

  • Thread starter Thread starter big stan
  • Start date Start date
big said:
my computer says it is low on vertual memory what does this mean
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This isn't really a Word question, although I guess you might see it while
you're using Word.

You computer has a certain amount of real physical memory on chips. If the
programs you're using need more than that, Windows helps by writing some of
the information held in the memory chips to an area on the hard drive, and
then making that part of the real memory available for other uses. When it
needs that information, then it has to swap again. The area on the hard
drive is called "virtual memory" -- that is, it's used like the memory chips
but it isn't "real".

Windows is telling you that it thinks the space remaining in the hard drive
area isn't big enough for the amount of information you're trying to use.

Ordinarily, Windows manages the virtual memory by itself, making the disk
area bigger when needed. If you're running low on free space on the disk,
though, you can get this sort of message. You can also get it if a program
has a "memory leak", that is, it keeps requesting more and more memory. This
isn't necessarily the program that you're currently using, such as Word, but
could be another one that's running at the same time.

Read
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_can_i_fix_too_little_virtual_memory_in_windows.html
for pretty good troubleshooting information.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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