What the hell is 'virtual memory'?

[Knoxville-Horn]

Computer has been running slow and now I am occassionally getting a message about virtual memory being low.

What could/should I do to remedy this issue?

Thanks,
--Computer illiterate

 

[Bob Wills]

You're probably running low on disk space. Check your C: drive to see how much is available.

Virtual memory = physical memory (RAM) + swap/page file on hard drive

 

[wherzwaldo]

It's not necessarily a problem of low hard disk space. The page file is only allowed to take up a certain amount of space. It's more likely that your RAM and page file are both being fully used. One of your programs or drivers may have a memory leak, or you just need more RAM.

 

[kevwun]

If you have plenty of free hard drive space, you can up your paging file size and it will most likely take care of the problem. It will also give you a performance boost.

 

[l00p]

Does it have any bearing as to how many images he has or how often he clears the cache? Do photos or images you run across online store up somewhere that he should delete things?

Say he goes over tons of pics of DKR, Austin and NASA photos. Would those clog up his virtual memory?

 

[oak forest horn]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[TexasEd]

oak forest,

Wouldn't it matter if he had multiple images open at the same time?

Adding more RAM will also help with this problem by decreasing the need for virtual memory.

 

[kevwun]

Image editing programs can sometimes run in to virtual memory errors if the dimensions of the picture being worked on get really big. Most people won't ever run in to that, though.

 

[SAChick]

I get this error sometimes but it happens when I'm doing major mail merges in word. I have to restart my computer and then it's fine.

 

[l00p]

How old is the computer and what is its ability or capacity? That surely has something to do with it if it is old and slow, right? And ty for the answer to my question, Oak.

 

[Knoxville-Horn]

Thanks for the answers.

The computer is only about 3 years old -- it's a Dell.

The problem seems to have worked itself out as I'm not getting the msg any more. Weird.

 

[Vac4tion]

Up the virtual memory limit in My Computer properties.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[pulque]

In reply to:

---

---