Community Newsletter: Q&A: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?!
- 6/28/07 3:54 PM
SOLUTION FOR LOW VIRTUAL MEMORY.
by bhavya_0007 - 6/15/07 9:36 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Respected Sir,
A window virtual memory is a portion of hard disk space which acts like a RAM in your comuter. For eg. if you have a virtual memory of 100 MB then this will acts as a 100MB RAM in your computer in case your actual RAM installed is not sufficient for the CPU to carry on all the current running processes smoothly. If your virtual memoty is low then you can increase it.
BELOW ARE THE STEPS TO INCREASE THE VIRTUAL MEMORY:
1)RIGHT CLICK MY COMPUTER > PROPERTIES
2)GO TO ADVANCED TAB
3)THERE YOU WILL FIND 3 BUTTONS ON WHICH SETTINGS IS WRITTEN. CLICK ON THE VERY FIRST BUTTON FROM THE TOP.
4)AGAIN GO TO ADVANCED TAB
5)THERE YOU WILL FIND 2 OPTIONS BUTTONS AND ONE COMMAND BUTTON ON WHICH CHANGE IS WRITTEN.
6)MAKE SURE THAT IN BOTH THE OPTIONS BUTTONS PROGRAMS IS SELECTED.
7)CLICK ON CHANGE BUTTON. HERE YOU WILL FIND THE OPTION OF CHANGING THE SIZE OF YOUR SYSTEM'S VIRTUAL MEMORY PER HARD DISK PARTITION.
8)SELECT THE DRIVE FOR WHICH YOU WANT TO ADJUST YOUR VIRTUAL MEMORY. ACTUALLY IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE OPERATING SYSTEM IN YOUR COMPUTER, THEN YOU CAN ONLY ADJUST THE VIRTUAL MEMORY FOR THAT PARTITION IN WHICH YOUR CURRENT OPERATNG SYSTEM IS INSTALLED AT A TIME i.e ON WHICH YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING. OTHERWISE IF YOU HAVE ONLY ONE OPERATING SYSTEM THEN YOU CAN ADJUST VIRTUAL MEMORY FOR ALL THE PARTITIONS SIMENTANEOUSLY.
9)AFTER SELECTING THE DRIVE,CLICK ON CUSTOM SIZE OPTION.THEN YOU CAN MENTION THE INITIAL SIZE AND THE MAXIMUM SIZE OF YOUR VIRTUAL MEMORY(BOTH ENTRIES CAN BE THE SAME ALSO) IN MEGA BYTES(MB).
10) CLICK OK > APPLY > OK
11) YOUR COMPUTER MIGHT ASK FOR A RESTART TO MAKE THE CHANGES TAKE EFFECT.PLEASE RESTART YOUR COMPUTER.
IMPORTANT: YOUR VIRTUAL MEMORY TAKES A PORTION OF THE SPACE OF YOUR HARD DISK.THE SPACE TAKEN OUY BY VIRTUAL MEMORY CANNOT BE USED FOR STORING YOUR DATA ON HARD DISK. SO MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH FREE SPACE ON YOUR HARD DISK PARTITIONS FOR WHICH YOU WANT TO ADJUST YOUE VIRTUAL MEMORY. SECONDLY, VIRTUAL MEMORY IS A SUBSTITIUTE FOR LOW RAM, BUT NOT EXCATLY YOUR RAM. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT IF A CERTAIN POINT OF LEVEL YOUR VIRTUAL MEMORY IS STILL LOW THEN YOU SHOULD UPGRADE YOUR RAM.
'Windows Virtual Memory is too low
by bbridges - 6/15/07 9:44 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Denise,
A couple questions: Do you leave any program running? If so sometime these program does what you call "a memory sippage". By this I am talking that program has 60mg of your memory in use and the program will think it needs more memory and it will grab another 60mg so now it has 120mg. Try closing out all program and also run "MSCONFIG" to see what you have running in the background. Turn off what you do not need to be running in the background. Also try increasing your paging file size to 4000 for both entry. If this does not fix the problem then run a memory checker program to make sure all of our memory is good. This may help and it may not nothing lost and you can change these setting back.
Bill
mg of memory !!!
by Shouvik1984 - 6/15/07 9:49 PM In reply to: 'Windows Virtual Memory is too low by bbridgesNo offense just trying to figure out how denise is weighing her Memory modules 
Regards
Shouvik
answer to'Windows Virtual Memory is too low
by aliveronica - 6/25/07 12:31 AM In reply to: 'Windows Virtual Memory is too low by bbridgesmy dear friend i think you receive this message when you play some games the reason its the rom is low you need a higher rom to your pc
It means you don't have enough RAM
by Judecat1 - 6/15/07 9:53 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
to run the programs you are tying to run at the same time. When you don't have enough RAM then your computer has to start using part of your hard drive. When it does it is using Virtual memory, and in your case it's using more than the default amount. There are ways to increase the amount of virtual memory, but that's only for a temporyary quick fix -- it can wear out your hard drive to depend on it too much.
What you really need is to get more RAM. I've heard from people who know more than me that with Windows Vista and any of the complete security suites, you need at least 1gig of RAM to operate properly. And that's not counting any other program you may be running. Window's always seems to underestimate how much RAM their operating systems are going to need. XP with Service pack two needs 512mg RAM all by itself, in spite of Microsofts minimum recomendations of 256mg.
Virtual Memory
by Tonja04401 - 6/15/07 9:55 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Denise,
Virtual Memory is your computer's memory allotment for running programs such as games, java script, high intensity graphics, etc.
Your virtual memory is low because you have either downloaded several programs that require this usage, or, you have downloaded one that requires a great bit of it. Such programs that can use a great deal of the stuff can be safety and security programs like AOL's that put all of their security features into one program.
You can modify your virtual memory usage one of two ways through your control panel. However, it would be wise to try and figure out what program(s) you think might be using a lot of virtual memory before making this change. Simply removing programs that you do not use that require a lot of VM might do the trick. Be that as it may, you can adjust your virtual memory by doing the following:
* Select Start
* Select Contrl Panel
* Performance and Maintenance
* System
* Advanced
* Performance
* Advanced
* Virtual Memory
Here is where you select whether you want to
increase the actual MG increments yourself, or,
if you want Windows to decide how best to allot
the memory by what programs need it most. I have
a lot of games on my computer that take up a lot
of VM and I let Windows regulate it and have not
had a problem at all. I also have newer and more
efficient safety and security programs that use
less VM, such as MSN's McFee Security System.
If you decide to increase the allotment yourself,
I would suggest only doubling the value of the
current increment and that should solve the problem.
However, if you still have problems, you may want
to change it Windows regulating it.
If either of those solutions do not help, you can
increase the VM again, but, the next time, only by
1/4 of the second increment you alloted. Using too
much VM is not good for the computer.
Once you have changed the setting, you should either
reboot or turn the computer off for 30 seconds for
the changes to take effect. Either one is okay and
is not more effective than the other.
* Okay
If all this fails, you will need to look into increasing your RAM, deleting/updating older programs, etc.
I do not think you'll need to do that, but, just in case, be prepared.
Also, regular maintenance is a good thing to help cut down on VM usage. Clearing your cache, defragmenting the disk and cleaning it regularly, are all good ways to keep the computer running cleanly and smoothly.
I hope this helps and that you find your computer making you as happy tomorrow as did before.
Tonja d.
virtual memory explained
by zepper - 6/22/07 11:09 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Denise,
Virtual memory is space on your hard drive that is used when your physical memory (RAM) starts getting too full - information is moved from RAM to the hard drive temporarily (into the "swap file" which is the space reserved on your hard drive to act as virtual memory - the info can then be swapped back into physical memory as needed, but of course something else may need to be swapped onto the drive to make room for it). You can understand that making extensive use of your virtual memory can bog your system down quite badly.
. The message you are seeing is telling you that:
1- you probably don't have enough RAM (Win XP wants at least 512 MB and Vista wants at least 1GB of RAM - Microsoft's estimates of RAM requirements are always grossly conservative). And as always, the more the merrier - though more than 2GB on normal systems can get into the land of 'diminishing returns'; and
2- Your hard drive where the virtual memory is being stored is running out of room for the swap file which can expand and shrink (called a dynamic swap file) as long as there is space available on your drive. The error message actually means that the dynamic swap file tried to expand and didn't find a lot of room left to use.
. A temporary solution is to free up space on your hard drive. Some things that can be wasting drive space are: temporary files that don't get deleted (should normally happen automatically but...), old recovery checkpoints that are no longer needed (all you need to keep are the last couple of good checkpoints), printer spooler files (should also be automatically deleted after printing, but...) programs that are no longer used (uninstall them with the "Add/Remove Software" tool in the Control Panel), programs that came installed on your new computer that you have never used (uninstall those too), a Recycle bin that hasn't been emptied (you can change the size of the recycle bin too - it defaults to 10% of the drive size - I set mine to 1% or less as that is still a lot on today's larger drives (1% of 40GB is 400MB). The default Recycle bin size originated in the days of 30 and 40MB hard drives...), and it goes on and on.
. Within Windows, there is a feature called "Drive Cleanup" which can help to keep the junk cleared. You get to it by opening "My Computer", then right-click on your hard drive icon, then click on Properties at the bottom of the menu that pops up. On the first tab of Properties, there is a button marked Drive Cleanup, click that button. It will tell you how much it found to clean when it is done.
. There are other programs that do the job better - the one I use is called CCleaner (CrapCleaner) that will clean out the junk better. One warning: CCleaner will want to delete ALL your cookies every time you run it, but many cookies are useful and make your web surfing experience more pleasant (they remember site passwords, etc.) so don't let CCleaner clean your cookies. Instead let your anti-Spyware software take care of the cookies as they will only remove the hinky cookies. And the first couple of times you use CC, you will want to monitor what it is removing. Usually the stuff it cleans is safe, but you want to reassure yourself. After that you can let CC loose as needed.
. Another item that can eat drive space is malware (viruses, worms, etc.). Some malware is designed to generate bunches of files to fill up your drive. So you want to make sure your system is free of all malware. Another is a thing like Norton's protected recycle bin. I suggest to empty and then disable anything like that unless you are really in the habit of mistakenly deleting files that you need.
. Finally, the real solution (even though keeping your drive cleaned up is always a good idea) is to buy and install more physical memory (RAM). The more physical RAM you have, the less your system will need to use your Virtual memory and the better performing it will be. It seems that Win will use virtual memory even when it really doesn't have to, so you can never get enough RAM to get rid of virtual memory entirely. But you can do some more research on it to find out how to determine how much disk space you really need for virtual memory and then you can make the swap file into fixed size file instead of dynamic. Once you have done that, it is unlikely that you will ever see the virtual memory error message again.
. The program(s) I mentioned can be downloaded from http://www.majorgeeks.com etc.
Good luck,
.bh.
Groton, NY
"Windows Virtual Memory is too low" - revealed
by GeorgeLoescher - 6/15/07 10:05 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Denise D.,
The 'Windows Virtual Memory is too low’ is not as serious a problem as it sounds. It is a warning that your programs and system are consuming lots of memory. That is the simple answer to your question what that message means. A more detailed answer needs a small tutorial on how the memory of your laptop is used. First you have RAM, that is the physical memory your laptop is configured with. Usually between 512 meg and 1 Gb for most laptops. Next you have this thing called ‘Virtual Memory’. Virtual memory is a way to allow your hard drive act as additional RAM. For a simple example let us say that Word requires 400M of total memory to run and Excel requires 400M of total memory. On a 512M laptop you could run Word, but if you tried to run Excel you would get a not enough memory error. With enough Virtual Memory you can run both Word and Excel at the same time because some memory is temporarily stored on your hard disk. But if your Virtual Memory settings are too low then when you run Excel, you will get a 'Windows Virtual Memory is too low’.
To adjust the amount of virtual memory to remove the warning, we need to examine how much physical memory you have. To do this, right click on the ‘my computer icon’ and select properties. You should see some text that states the amount of RAM near the bottom right of the window. My laptop says 1.0 GB of RAM. Next click on the ‘Advanced’ tab at the top of the properties window. This takes you to a screen where there are three groups listed: Performance, User Profiles, and Startup and Recovery. Each group has a settings button. Click on the Settings button for the Performance section. This will take you to the performance options screen. At the top select the advanced tab and you will see a window that has three groups in it: Processor scheduling, Memory usage, and Virtual memory. In the Virtual Memory section it will state the total paging file size for all drives; it should be about 1.5 times the amount of physical memory. To change the Virtual Memory size click on the change button. The change window has lots of information on it but you are concerned with only the Initial size (MB) and the Maximum size (MB): edit boxes. Change both of these edit boxes to 1.5 times the amount of physical ram, or if they are already 1.5 times then set them a bit higher. Remember these boxes are in MB so if you have 1.0 GB like mine then these boxes should have a setting of 1536. Once you change the boxes you must click on the Set button. The Set button acts like it does nothing, but it really does. Then you can click the OK and the OK again. You will finally get a warning to reboot your machine, and you should.
low virtual memory
by jimboh44 - 6/15/07 10:09 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There are three things you can do. No. 1: Click Start-Click Control Panel-Click Performance and Maintenace-Click System-Click Advanced tab-under Virtual Memory, click change. Under Volume labelclick drive that contains virtual memory-usually drive C. Click to select system managed size option-click set- click ok three times and restart computer. No.2 eliminate non essential programs. No.3 add more ram. Usually No. 1 is all you have to do.
Virtual Memory is . . .
by frankELF - 6/15/07 10:10 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Virtual Memory is what your computer uses when your hardware RAM is not sufficient. It is unused space on your hard disk that your computer sets aside to use more or less as a RAM disk. If your hard disk is low on space there will not be sufficient virtual memory for your operating system to take advantage of it.
[Anyone who knows better, please feel free to correct or augment this]
Insufficient virtual memory
by Pebri10 - 6/15/07 10:28 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm not sure, but I think you need more RAM and a Memory Optimiser to keep its functionality high. Run the Optimiser every day or several times a day like I have to.
I thought 1000 megabyes of RAM would be more than enough for my XP but my RAM often goes down to 250 MB or so during daily use.
Without RAM my computer limps. It's far too slow as it is.
Been there
by Dango517 - 6/16/07 12:37 AM In reply to: Insufficient virtual memory by Pebri10I had the same problem with my computer till last weekend. I added another gig of RAM memory to it and it runs fine now. It hasn't run out of RAM in a week.
Before I got the new RAM I was using a little utility called FreeRam XP Pro and it did a pretty good job of keeping the RAM recovered. I'm still using it. I tried several others but they didn't work nearly as well. This utility runs and monitors in real time and you can boost the RAM manually if you need to give it an extra boost.
I also was able to find several memory leakage KB from my operating system vendor that helped a little.
I thought I had enough RAM too but that wasn't the case. By-the-way, I've heard word from two reliable sources that now is the time to buy RAM. The price is right.
FreeRam XP Pro
by Pebri10 - 6/16/07 12:59 AM In reply to: Been there by Dango517Thanks for the FreeRam XP Pro suggestion. I've just installed it. Seems useful. It's free, but a $5 donation would be welcome. Only one downloader in three thousand do that!
Virtual Memory Fix
by Ryan18phs - 6/15/07 10:31 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Denise,
As a computer tech I have seen this problem a lot. Virtual memory is a file that your operating system creates on your hard disk called "pagefile.sys". It is used to augment the RAM (commonly referred to memory) that is installed on your system. There are a few things that you can do to fix this issue.
1. Open "My Computer"
Right click on your "C:" drive
Left click on "Properties"
Left click on the "General" tab
Left Click on "Disk Clean up"
Windows will scan your hard drive for files that are wasting space (Don't worry it only deletes tings like temporary files and the like not your personal data)
2. You may be getting this message because you are running more programs than you used to a year or two ago. The easy solution to this would be to upgrade the RAM that your system has.
3. If that is not an option for you try to increase the size of the page file with these steps.
Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click “Properties”.
In the System Properties dialog box, click the “advanced” tab.
In the Performance pane, click Settings.
In the Performance Options dialog box, click the “advanced” tab.
In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.
Change the Initial size value and the Maximum size value to a higher value, click Set, and then click OK.
Click OK to close the Performance Options dialog box, and then click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.
(These steps can also be found on Microsoft’s website by following this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826513)
-Ryan K.
It means....
by bakedpatato - 6/15/07 10:54 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hey Denise;
Most likely,you are low on RAM.Sometimes don't have enough physical RAM to run all the programs you want to, so Windows turns some free space in your hard drive into "RAM", or Virtual Memory.
Normally, Windows allocates enough virtual memory for most people. However, if you are like me, playing intensive games like Company Of Heroes on 512MB of RAM, you get that "Too Low" prompt because CoH needs at least 1024MB(1GB) of ram to run smoothly. What I am trying to say is that that prompt is a symptom of something eating up your ram, be it Photoshop or a game, or some nasty spyware.To make sure,scan your computer for viruses and spyware.
You can however, increase the amount of virtual memory that your computer can utalise. Normally, when Windows finds that you are using up all your virtual memory, windows will increase it, but your computer will be very slow (at the best) while Windows is doing so.
Go to Control Panel(make sure you're in classic view), Click on System(the computer with a check displayed),Click the "Advanced" tab, and click the first "Settings" button, under the title of "Performance". Click the "Advanced" tab and click "Change".If the radio button is selected on "System Managed Size", switch it to "Custom".
Increase the "Maximum Size(MB)" value by a decent amount, say, 100MB.
That's it.
Consider upgrading the amount of RAM you have if you constantly have to increase the maximum size.
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