Community Newsletter: Q&A: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?!
- 6/28/07 3:54 PM
Windows Resets Visual Memory when You UPDATE
by Kurt Sanger - 6/22/07 6:00 PM In reply to: Potential winning answers. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've found that when I get the error message that I'm out of Virtual Memory its because the latest MicroSoft Update reset virtual memory to the minimum amount. Set it back to the max and relax. Don't know why MS can't update an OS without setting everything back to DEFAULT 
.
I am also confounded about why there is an artificial limit. The limiting factor for VIRTUAL memory should be Hard Drive Space. Good thing I have a lot of RAM so my limit is huge. Else I wouldn't be able to work with Windows XP.
One limiting factor is that a 32 bit OS may "see" 4GB of memory at a given time of which XP hogs 2GB leaving your application a maximum of 2GB. On my system at work Matlab is only able to acquire 800 MB of memory for assigning variables. So even though the Virtual Memory is set higher than 2GB a single program can't access that much on a 32 bit system. Matlab, and the other "software" my IT department requires to be running in the background chew up the other 1.2 GB of memory.
Lastly XP releases memory when a program like Matlab says its done with it while SunOS doesn't realocate memory until the program exits. This allows infectious code to leave tidbits behind to get executed and launced without the users consent. So it shouldn't be long before XP behaves more like Unix and doesn't release memory until the program ends at which point we'll all wish we had 64 bit CPUs with 64 bit OS's to allow us to access 64 terabytes without running out. Assuming we may afford to power up that hard drive.
swap file(s), virtual memory, etc...
by LostValley - 6/23/07 10:36 PM In reply to: Potential winning answers. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I may have missed it but another thing to do occasionally is go into your WinXP, Vista, or whichever folder your operating system actually resides and find the TEMP folder, select all and delete them. Then go to recycle bin, bitbucket or whatever the OS calls it, clear all files permanently and the last step is to open My Computer, select and right click on C drive, click on disk cleanup...shouldn't show much but clear it all out and de-fragment the drive. If you've never done this you'll see a noticeable overall speed increase. Hope this little tip from the data war trenches helps.
one other thing
by Owl - 6/22/07 5:03 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
One other thing is to empty the Prefetch folder in the windows directory. it often is loading things that you don't use, and if you have installed or removed program it is a good idea to empty it as it often preloads installer programs that you don't need to run the program that was install.
virt mem
by Mankarlen - 6/22/07 7:02 PM In reply to: one other thing by OwlI looked at some4 of the answers and not all help. As I have reset virt mem and still get this warning. Some of this is a spyware issue and some be a vid card issue, or a virus. You might need to get the list of several spyware free programs or different vid card upgrades
This is mis-information on function of prefetch
by jamescchandler - 6/24/07 11:12 AM In reply to: one other thing by OwlMany other sites report that the prefetch folder is NOT something to mess with unless you want to reduce the performance of your OS. Her is one article that provides a concise explanation and links for those interested in the technical arguments. http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000743.html
Odd problems
by Owl - 6/25/07 3:02 PM In reply to: This is mis-information on function of prefetch by jamescchandlerI had one computer that start saying it was out of memory when trying to run one progam and the only thing that got it to run was empting the prefetch and a another computer had more than one program say it need an internet conection and yet the internet was working just fine and cleaning the prefetch cleared up that problem too. So while normaly you don't need to do anything to it, if something get corupted it may need clean.
Your System is Low on Virtual Memory
by mercerik - 6/23/07 8:16 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The behavior may occur if you start any of the programs included in Office on a computer where paging file value setting is too low. To resolve this behavior, increase the size of the paging file by following these steps: 1. Click Start, right click My Computer, and then click Properties; 2. In the System Properties dialogue box, click Advanced tab; 3. In the Performance pane, click Settings; 4. In the Performance Options dialogue box, click Advanced Tab; 5. In the Virtual Memory pane, click Change; 6. Change the Intial Size value and the Maximum Size Value to a higher value, click Set and then click OK; 7. Click OK to close the Performance Options dialogue box, and then click OK to close the System properties dialogue box.
With virtual memory, the computer can use hard disk space as random access memory (RAM). The computer uses virtual memory to augment the ordinary RAM that is installed on the computer. If you reduce the size of the paging file, the Office program may not start correctly or may not start at all. The behavior may occur even if the computer has a large RAM.
mercerik - HELP
by haf canadian - 6/23/07 7:45 PM In reply to: Your System is Low on Virtual Memory by mercerikcontact me at joelashley@msn.com re. a Nero lightscribe problem.
Post your problem on CNET
by mercerik - 6/23/07 8:38 PM In reply to: mercerik - HELP by haf canadianThe best thing to do is to post your problem on CNET so you can get ideas on how to solve your problem.
Low on Virtual Memory
by ekadasia - 6/24/07 6:20 AM In reply to: Your System is Low on Virtual Memory by mercerikI faced this problem once.It was basically due to low RAM capacity,which I increased,but did not solve the problem.It was then found out to be low disc space available in a praticular drive which was C drive in my case.Space in C Drive was less,but in D Drive it was enough.
All I did is ,made fresh partition,increased the C Drive space and reduced the D Drive Space.My Problem was solved.
Security Software
by D-Angelo - 6/23/07 8:43 AM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Some security programs are "bloatware" - meaning they use too much of the computer's resources to effectively do their job. On my niece's laptop, she was getting the "Virtual Memory Too Low" message so I doubled her RAM from 512MB to 1GB. But the "Virtual Memory Too Low" still appeared. I made adjustments to the setting for Virtual Memory but no success. Finally I decided to get rid of her separate security programs, Norton AntiVirus, ZoneAlarm Firewall, and Spyware Doctor - even though each of them does a fine job on their own. But because all of these programs are resource hogs, especially Spyware Doctor which made the PC run soooo slooooww, I thought it would be better to use an All-in-One security program that had all of these separate features. I ended up installing McAfee VirusScan Plus, that includes AntiVirus, Firewall, and AntiSpyware, and now the PC no longer gets any "Virtual Memory Too Low" messages.
Low virtual memory reasons
by ekadasia - 6/24/07 6:31 AM In reply to: Security Software by D-AngeloInstalling too many security softwares conflict with the system and eat away the basic hard drive which is often C unless you choose other wise.I believe Live One Care by Windows can be the best solution.I am using it and I have removed all prior installed security software like Pandas,Mac,AVG,Norton.I tried with all of them at one point or other.Even installation of 2 security software is not desirable.This is my thought and experience.
Now the message has been morphed and you're NEVER getting it
by ````` - 7/11/07 1:09 PM In reply to: Security Software by D-Angelo"Virtual Memory Low" has just been replaced by McAfee's "UPDATE AVAILABLE, DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL?" followed by "UPDATE INSTALLED, CONTINUE WHAT YOU WERE DOING?" Yes, please and thank you, I would like to return to NOT reading that message any more. Oh yeah, and I forgot about McAfee's antivirus warnings: "INCOMING ATTACK TYPE DETECTED, TRACE ATTACKER?" "BLOCK ONCE, FOREVER?" Well, that's what gets to you when you turn off the built-in firewall. Hope you enjoy being McNageed!
What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?!
by joseluiztec - 6/24/07 3:30 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dear friend,
The meaning of this message is your disk is full and Windows has few bytes for use.
Look at the properties of your disk and observe its free space is probably lower than the minimum Windows needs.
So,make a disk cleanup and deinstall unused programs.This must resolve your problem.
Bye.
Virtual Memory
by NoPhule - 6/24/07 5:49 PM In reply to: What do you mean, Windows Virtual Memory is too low?! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Virtual memory is an amalgamation of motherboard memory and contiguous drivespace. The memory of a computer, however, is not directly analagous to the memory of a human. To understand it best, think of it as "desktop". We use a bookshelf and a desktop in a manner much like the computer uses the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and virtual memory.
Think of a crowded desktop and a bookshelf. If you pull a table up to the desktop, you can get more books off the bookshelf and open them. When the CPU reserves part of the HDD and adds it to the motherboard's Random Access Memory it has done much the same thing.
If you get more books off the shelf, until they don't fit on the table, your expanded desk top space is too low. However, you can pull up a bigger table to accommodate the additional information. This is like expanding virtual Memory.
To do just that, open <control panel> go to <Advanced system settings> and click the <settings> button In the "Performance" section select the <settigs> radio button. In the "Performance Options" panel, select <Advanced>. In the "Advanced section of the ""Performance Options" panel select the <Change...> radio button in the "Virtual Memory" section.
In the "Virtual Memory" panel, check to see if the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked. If not, checking it will probably solve your problem.
If the "Automatically etc." box is already checked, and you're still getting the error, check the "Custom Size" option and set "Initial size at 2048 and the "Maximum size" at 4080 then select the<Set> radio button.
If you haven't got enough drive space to do so, then you'll need hardware upgraded.
Best regards
NoPhule@msn.com
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