Windows XP forum: Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about?

Thank you very much
I am going to test what you have suggested very soon

Firstly you can only use 6GB of memory on a 64-bit OS and less than 4GB on a 32-bit Windows system, as you will see discussed in other threads.

Secondly Virtual Memory will allow your computer to continue working when you need more than the memory available and will not be used otherwise.

Even if you think you can do everything you need within 6GB why not allocate a few gigs of disk (that's even cheaper than RAM) as an insurance?

HI
Virtual memory is automatic memory assigned depending on the size of RAM in computer.Message virtual memory low generally pops up when more aaplications are running in small time frame such as videos buffering , photo uploading , downloading etc.This behavior may occur if you try to start any of the programs included in Office on a computer where the paging file value setting is too low.
The default and recommended size of this file is 1.5 times the amount of physical memory.(RAM) Size of virtual memory can be increased or decreased under system properties(right click, my computer, properties) by clicking on advanced tab.Under advanced tab click on performance, click on setting and then advanced tab again.Size can be increased by clicking on change size button.

Windows uses "virtual memory" which is actually your fixed disk space, to create more "usable memory" for your computer. Thus if you have only 256 meg memory in XP, (or for Vista - 1 gig) you might not have enough real memory to run multiple applications, By activating VM, you will be able to run more programs without having to close something. Actually, VM is setup by default, and the overhead is pretty high.
The most important upgrade you can make to your computer is fill it with memory. That being said, I disable virtual memory because it slows down a computer and uses a lot more battery power because of the disk swapping.
On XP with 512 mb memory I have never run out of memory and I run Office programs, Acrobat, a map program and multiple Firefox windows. On Vista, I have 4 gig, so I can't tell you the limit, but I know I won't reach it.
You can monitor you memory usage by right clicking on the Task Bar to select Task Manager, click on the Performance tab. Then for a good look click Resource Monitor and expand the memory bar.
You can change the VM settings by opening the Start menu, right clicking on Computer to select Properties. (You can also select Control Panel, System & Maintenance, and System). Select Advanced System Settings, then on the Advanced tab, in the Performance window click "Settings". You can now change the Virtual memory settings.

Mainly means you are using up too much RAM or resources from programs and having a lot of windows up

I recommend at least have 256mb of ram at the bare minimum
But the more you put in, the better your computer will run
It shouldn't run but around $50+

Check with reputable online stores or your local shops

Your video card and CPu, hard drive and computer should be updated if its old

I have 13 yrs computer experience

If the system shows you that the virtal memory is low then it means that the system is either running on the lowest RAM or on minimum compatibility of RAM. To overcome this problem, you should run System Disk Cleaning Utilities and if problem persists, then upgrade your system RAM.

If you have inadequate RAM to run your App(s), Windows "cheats" and swaps the inactive portion of your app into Virtual Memory, which is just its term for some RAM that is temporarily being used to hold intermediate results. Think of it as if you had to add 2+4+3 and you do not have enough RAM to do the whole job at once. Windows adds the two and the four, finds it does not have enough RAM to finish the job, so it stores the currently active portion (the part that got as far as six) in a spot on your hard drive which it calls Virtual Memory and finishes up by adding the six to the three. Window sets the size of your Virtual Memory by default to a rather low number, and if it runs out of RAM and V.M. it will stop everything while it increases the size of your Virtual Memory. You can reset the default size of Virtual Memory, but I think that the best step would be to increase the amount of RAM in your system as RAM is faster than your HDD. If you have an older machine and ae maxed out on RAM or just temporarily short of cash to fill those vacant slots open Control Panel, select System and under Advanced, pick Performance, pick Settings and finally, click Change (If you have two Hard Drives pick the one with Windows on it, almost always C: drive) and click custom size Increase the Current Setting. BTW, Windows XP instructions. If you are cursed with Vista,should be same general pinciples.

one, wrong topic, post this somewhere else.

two, as the admin, they can set the firewall, or the router, or whatever internet filtering software they have to block certain websites, downloads. you web browser, such as IE, Firefox or chromo can do this as well.

usually the admin would block websites or downloads to reduce the risk of a user downloading a variety of very unconfortable stuff ranging from porn, games, or anything that might contain viruses, malware etc.

And you can't undo those changes unless you got admin rights or talk the admin into doing it.

I kept having the problem. I stopped using Windows IE and moved to Mozilla Firefox and haven't had it happen since.

I have two hard disks on my PC. After installing windows I used to install other applications on a drive on my second hard disk. I have assigned Virtual memory to still another drive on the second hard disk and I have alloted a size of 5GB for the drive.My initial size of VM is 1536 MB - and maximum is 4608. This works very good for me.
But please clarify the following doubts
1. Maximum permitted RAM for Win XP 32 bit is 3.5 GB(as seen in one of the suggestions. If I can install 8GB on my motherboard do I ever need a VM?
2. what is the maximum RAM permitted on a 64 bit system

Yep, Olifrench, that is about the size of it. I am not real sure what the current advantage of using a 64 bit system is. But I remember back in the late 60's when I was programming a CDC 3300 mainframe in assembler language it was possible to stack instructions into one word. This increased the efficiency of the CPU due to the mere fact that the processor could fetch multiple instructions in one fell swoop. Since this was an old BCD machine utilizing 36 bit words the processor was wired to accept 72 bit instructions and expand the instructions via delimiters.

If you've already got the maximum amount of RAM your system supports, adding RAM is not the solution, of course.

The immediate fix for the problem is to have a page file of a maximum size big enough for your needs or to reduce your needs.

This is very useful, but I've seen different ratios given for page file size to RAM. Is there a definitive magic number? Unless I missed it, I don't think the Microsoft KB article specifies it.

Marilyn H:
Since shutting off all my systems in msconfig and hoping the necessary ones will enable at restart up, I would like to decide what is necessary and what isn't. This is a really helpful, user friendly article you might want to start with - sure helped me!
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10165_7-5554402-1.html
Sandra
Minnesota

Since CPU and RAM speeds are much faster than HD access VISTA includes a new intermediate cache feature logically positioned between RAM and disks called READYBOOST. Basically, this strategy consists of inserting a flash memory device such as a USB key. READYBOOST examines the flash memory for certain size and performance characteristics and stores them in the registry. You can use up to 4G of the flash memory. The ECACHE.SYS device driver compresses the data 2:1 so the 4G file can effectively contain up to 8G of data. ECACHE.SYS intercepts all writes to the disk device and copies it to the flash memory cache. Reads to the disks are first checked to see if they are in the cache. If found there, the cached data is used instead, thus circumventing a physical disk read. This shortens the IO interrupt because flash memory access time is about ten times faster than disk IO.