Community Newsletter: Q&A: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?!
- 6/28/07 3:54 PM
Adjusting Virtual Memory
by Rocker452 - 6/16/07 5:21 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Denise,
All virtual memory is is a part of the hard drive that Windows uses as memory called the pagefile or swapfile. Windows uses this when the processes running on the computer take more memory than you have ram installed. It will take some of the data in memory that isn't needed at the moment and move it to the pagefile.
The common setting for the pagefile is 1 1/2 times the amount of ram installed. Lets say you have 512MB of ram the pagefile would be set to 768MB. This isn't set in stone but most tweaking sites recommend 1.5 to 2 times the amount of ram installed.
Now that said the more ram you have the less likely you would need the virtual memory. Some sites even say with 2GB of ram or more you can do without a pagefile but that really depends on how you use your computer and the programs you run.
If you run alot of memory intensive programs you may have better results by adding more ram but you can first try changing the pagefile size.
Right click "My Computer" and select properties. In the properties box click the advanced tab then the settings button under the performance box then the advanced tab. At the bottom of that box is the pagefile setting, check and see what it is set to, if it is 1.5 or less than the amount of ram change it to 2X the amount of ram. Click on the change button and you will see 3 choices. The first is custom where you can set it manually, the 2nd is let the system manage it. If it is set to system manage you may be better off adding more ram ( this is probably the most likely setting if you have never set it manually).
If adding more memory is not an option you can shut down unnecessary programs or not running several programs at the same time.
reply to your query
by joe_bautista - 6/16/07 5:23 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have read regarding your problem in your laptap, i'll to suggest if you think this can help. you should delete some unnecessary files to save space and if possible, try to do the disk clean up once a month.
jose d. bautista
'Windows Virtual Memory is too low.'
by Keith0 - 6/16/07 8:07 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Windows XP, like all operating systems, runs a juggling operation in the background. Each program that is running would like to have control of all the memory that is available. In addition, the operating system needs a certain amount of memory to run its own processes. When the total amount being requested by all the programs and needed by the operating system is more than the physical memory that is installed in the computer, the operating system makes a judgment about which process/program has not been actively using the memory that was assigned to it. The operating system them moves the information in that memory to the hard disk. If the process tries to use that memory, the operating system moves some other process's assigned memory to the hard disk and retrieves the data from the disk back to the process that is asking to use it. This process is seamless to the user but does take time, which is why adding memory is the first thing suggested to improve the apparent speed of a computer.
So what happens if the processes/programs have claimed all the physical memory and there is not enough space on the hard disk to swap a process memory to? The operating system has to work harder and harder to keep the processes happy but sooner or later not everyone can be satisfied, especially the user. Before that happens the operating system says 'Windows Virtual Memory is too low.'
How to fix this? You could add some more memory which is not a bad thing to do but it won't really cure this problem. It may delay the return of the message but the real problem will probably show up in other ways, specifically the inability to save your work.
What is really happening is your hard disk is rapidly approaching FULL. You will either have to delete unneeded files or add storage with a larger drive. It's not necessary to permanently discard your currently unneeded files as they can be transferred to another disk such as the one you use to back up your system - you do back up your system don't you?
Best of luck in expanding your system.
virtual memory shortage
by Stevecb56 - 6/16/07 9:36 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Okay Denise here's my best shot at it.
Windows xp uses your hard drive or a portion of it to create virtual memory. When your hard drive starts to get full of programs and data files it doesn't have enough room to create that memory for your system to use in functioning. I would suggest that you go through your hard drive and see if you can select a few folders to backup or just plain delete. If your hard drive is like mine it can be like a storeroom or a garage in that it tends to ecumalate a good deal of unneeded junk. Get rid of some of that to create some more open room on your hard drive and your problem will go away.
I hope that helps!!
Steve B.
Answer
by augustusgloo - 6/17/07 1:24 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This means that your ram and/or paging file is too low. The paging file is a file on your hard drive that acts like ram. You could either get a ram upgrade or increace your paging file size to stop the warning.
Virtual Memory
by samlopez - 6/17/07 2:12 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The CPU saves loaded files in your virtual memory in a hidden file in root called pagefile.sys when your physical memory is full.
What I do on every new installation is move the Temp folder to the root Directory after making a new folder "C:\Temp" or "D:\Temp" and I set the virual memory both min. and max. to 2 1/2 times your actual physcal memory.
1. Right click my computer
2. Then click the advance tab
3. Then the Performance settngs
4. Then the Advanced tab on perfomance options
5. Then change size in the Virual memory section
6. Highlight the drive where you want your virtual memory to reside then change the virtual memory size.
Note the highest size on older motherboards is 4095
If you have 2 hardrive put the temp file and and viutual memory on the second drive they work faster together.
To change Temp folder Click the Environment Variables tab in the System Properties. Change to C:\Temp
Change both the User variables and System Variables.
( you will have to scroll down on the system variables )
RE: Window's Vista for Denise D
by josepheb1964 - 6/17/07 3:14 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I recently bought a new system and found that the barest amount of memory was installed.Meaning that when you boot window's Vista it uses up a lot of memory to run for instance if you only have 512 MMRAM then some thing's will not work, like a game for instance. Each thing you do on windows require a certain amount of memory.So if you have thing's that start up when you boot or turn on your PC then they to are useing memory. Try checking your start up menu if there are thing's thatyou dont need to run every time disable them and you may find you have less error's. Or you can upgrade your memory but at a cost I try to see if there are thing's you can do without first hope this help's to see what boot's on start up just hit the microglobe, hit All Programs and it should be the last on the list Good Luck.
Next Week Answer On Virtual Memory Problems.
by pro_chaliha83 - 6/17/07 4:43 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi
Iam SuProtim,
Virtual (or logical) memory is a concept that, when implemented by a computer and its operating system, allows programmers to use a very large range of memory or storage addresses for stored data. The computing system maps the programmer's virtual addresses to real hardware storage addresses. Usually, the programmer is freed from having to be concerned about the availability of data storage.
In addition to managing the mapping of virtual storage addresses to real storage addresses, a computer implementing virtual memory or storage also manages storage swapping between active storage (RAM) and hard disk or other high volume storage devices. Data is read in units called "pages" of sizes ranging from a thousand bytes (actually 1,024 decimal bytes) up to several megabytes in size. This reduces the amount of physical storage access that is required and speeds up overall system performance.
Now, that you know what it means. To fix your problem i suggest increasing your Virtaul Memory size. The procedure to do it correctly is as follows :-
To change the size of the virtual memory paging file
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
1.To open System, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
2.On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
3.On the Advanced tab, under Virtual memory, click Change.
4.Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
5.Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size, and type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
Note :-
If you decrease the size of either the initial or maximum page file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Increases typically do not require a restart. But if its required, please do so.
• To have Windows choose the best paging file size, click System managed size.
• For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent to 1.5 times the amount of RAM on your system. Usually, you should leave the paging file at its recommended size, although you might increase its size if you routinely use programs that require a lot of memory.
• To delete a paging file, set both initial size and maximum size to zero, or click No paging file. Microsoft strongly recommends that you do not disable or delete the paging file.
See 2004 Answer by Jared Y.
by waytron - 6/17/07 5:39 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This question was answered back in 2004 by Jared Y. There is no sense repeating what was written then sinse nothing has really changed on this topic.
Check out http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=42641&messageID=499859
NOTE: Make sure you computer is clean of all Viruses and Spyware.
How to increase virtual memory.
by b.srikanth - 6/17/07 5:45 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Virtual Memory allows a program to use more memory than actually exists in the computer RAM. Windows uses this space on hard disk as it were RAM.
To increase virtual memory, do these steps:
Right click on "My computer" icon.
Clck on "properties" option.
Click on "Advanced" tab.
Click on "Settings" button in "Performance" box.
click on "Advanced" tab.
Click on "Change" tab in "Virtual Memory" box.
1. Now select a drive on which a "page file" has not been created. (If its created you will see the size of page file right to the Drive Letter)
2. Now click on "Custom size" radio buton and enter minimum size and maximum size for the page file and click "set". (You must have enough free space on that drive to create.)
Now do the steps 1 & 2 for other drives until the total size satisfies recommended size.
If a page file has been created on all the drives, then do steps 1 & 2 to increase that.
Restart is required to increase the performance of the system.
If you dont have space to store data, dont wonder what is taking remaining space on that drive after calculating the total size of all files.
I Hope this will resolve - Srikanth.
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by hotsprurflemming - 6/17/07 6:40 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
how do i use OwlVision GDSII Viewer 1.1.2?
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error msg 'Windows Virtual Memory is too low.'
by jemckeev - 6/17/07 8:37 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Denise,
I used to have that problem a long time ago. I found that over time, a lot of miscellaneous files and shortcuts had been saved on my computer and taken up space. Since you only started getting this error, my guess is that your settings for swapping memory are fine, you just have run out of space.
To see how bad your disk useage is go to MY COMPUTER; right click your mouse; go down and click on properties. Take a look at the pie and see how much free space you have compared to the used space. Your computer should have a minimum of 10% free space to provide memory swapping space.
Here are some things I do to keep the junk files off my computer and free up space.
Click on the disk cleanup button to the right of the pie. Depending on the size of your HD, this may take a few minutes. Minimally you will want to check off Temporary Internet filed, Offline Web pages, Recycle Bin, and Temporary files. Click OK to the Are you sure question.
Here are some other ways that I clean up unnecessary files from my HD.
USING YOUR INTERNET BROWSER (I use IE others are probably similar)
Go to Tools -> Internet Options
Check Delete files & offline content
I clear history occasionally, but set "days to keep pages.." to 0. Click OK.
Here is one where a lot of files get stored and never cleaned out.
Go to MY COMPUTER (using WINDOWS EXPLORER). In the left panel, open up the "C" drive listings by clicking on the + sign. Do the same for the Documents & Settings Folder. You should see 3 or more folders- All Users - Default Users - then one with the name of your computer or your name.
This last one is the one you want to remove files from.
Click on the + in front of this folder name to see the available sub-folders. Go down to the RECENT folder and highlight (click on) it. A lot of files will show up in the right half of your screen. Click the mouse in the right half. Select all the files (CTRL-A) and hit the delete key to remove them. Answer yes to the question "Are you sure.."
Back to the left side. Click on the + in front of the LOCAL SETTINGS folder. Highlight the TEMP folder. Click your mouse in the right side of the screen. Again select all the files and delete them.
If you get an error, sort the files by date. If you don't see the details in the right half, click View (on the top bar); choose details, now click "Modified". This will sort by the modified date. You can choose all the folders and delete them. Now choose all the folders that do not have the current date & delete them.
On the left, highlight the TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES folder. You will see a lot of files - mostly cookies. Even when you use the internet options to delete cookies, not all cookies are deleted.
If your are viewing the details, you will see some of the cookies for places that you have been. I delete all of them. You may wish to be more cautious. Some cookies contain saved ID and passwords to your favorite sites. Some may be sending statistics back to other sites you have visited.
Another place for saved shortcuts/files is in the APPLICATION DATA folder. This is not the one under LOCAL SETTINGS but the one that is at the same level. Choose MICROSOFT -> OFFICE then highlight the RECENT folder. Once again go to the right side and select all files and delete them. If you do not have Microsoft office installed, then this will not be necessary.
Now to see how much space you have freed up go back up to where the C: drive is listed under My Computer. Highlight it; right click and choose properties. You should see a big difference.
Good Luck, Jeanne
Low Virtual Memory
by pcrx_greg - 6/17/07 9:18 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Denise:
Virtual memory is a portion of your hard drive that is reserved to hold programs that are running but not being used at the present time. Windows does this to free up physical memory (RAM) to run the programs you are currently using. You have a lot of programs that run in the background, and you wouldn't want to use up all your memory (RAM) running these background tasks or tasks that you are not using right now but have minimized, so Windows moves these to Virtual memory.
The warning that you are receiving indicates that the amount of space allocated on the hard drive is insufficient for the needs of the operating system, and that Windows is automatically reallocating more space. This is not a serious issue, but it is aggravating. You can just ignore the warning and go on with what you are doing, or you can manually adjust your virtual memory.
To manually adjust your virtual memory, right click on "My Computer", then click "Properties". Next click on the tab at the top labeled "Advanced" and then click on the "Settings" button in the "Performance" section, in the "Performance" dialog box, click on the "Advanced" tab. On the "Advanced" page, click "Change" in the "Virtual Memory" section and then select the "Custom Size" button. Look at the bottom of the box where it tells you the amount of virtual memory that is currently being used, and enter that number in the "Initial size" box, double that amount and enter it in the "Maximum size" box and then click "Set". Click "OK" three times and you are done. You might have to repeat this process again if the message returns, but usually you don't have to repeat it more than twice. Also make sure that you have enough hard drive space available to set the virtual memory to the size that you need. If not you might need to free some space on your hard drive. I hope that this helps solve your problem.
Greg
answer
by purple_mimz - 6/17/07 10:03 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Denise it just means that you have very low memory!
Serious Help is Needed Here.
by airroseice - 6/17/07 10:11 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Forum,
Please this is an Open question. My name is Eros and I own a HP laptop, it a member of the DV5000 series, its model no. is dv5236eu and my Operating System is Windows XP Professional. I love this PC so much and since I bought it brand new around the ending of last year I cant afford to lose it now.
I have experiences alot of problems which have been solved but this particular problem keeps re-occuring and it has made me really fed up of this PC. The PC performs very slow and poorly, no one would ever believe its an AMD processor. It behaves like Pentium 1!!!
When I rebooth it takes up to 13 Minutes or more to rebooth and when it finally picks up, it takes another 8 minutes for it to start up properly and the worst of all is that when I play sound it SKIPS!!!!!! Even the start up sound skips! The whole program starts up very slow doesnt respond some times.
I have tried everything I know and even Ideas from Experts. I have tried lots and lots of PC Maintainance softwares and I have deleted everything in the startup folder. I currently have Spybot Search & Destroy running and I use it to check for errors and try to fix the problems but nothing seems to improve, I said I have done everything, I have cleaned up my registry, I scan my PC for Virus, Spyware and Malwares every blessed day. But Guys I havent any progress.
This thing has been occuring. It has happended like 7 Times and the only solution I found was to format the whole system and re-install my windows OS. Each time I do that the system begins to behave fine. TO an extent I uninstalled almost all my prgrams and left just a few running but it still occurs. Please can someone tell when what I need to do.
I have contacted HP customer care but they suggested alot of things which I did. I have updated my BIOS, Installed Critical updates from Microsoft but Guys I dont know what to do. I am even ashamed of the PC, I dont dare start it up in presence of my friends otherwise they'll mock me and say "Is this a Pentium 1 PC?"
Please I would be more than grateful if anyone can assist. Please whatever you think that I have not mentioned above will be necessary. Just anything you have in mind. I welcome all reasonable suggestions. I will wait for response.
Regards,
Eros.
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