My computer says it doesn't have enough memory, but, I know it does. How do I fix it?

Question

I am "copy & pasteing" in to Microsoft Works Word Processor, it says (Works can not complete task because there is not enough memory on your computer. Try closeing some programs or restarting Windows.) I know this is not true. How can I fix this?

Answer 1

How much RAM do you have? Also, what other programs are you running besides Microsoft Works?

Answer 2

you are out of RAM, not hard drive space

RAM is basically the memory used while the computer is "running" - kind of like when your brain is thinking of breathing and moving - your hard drive is the memory where files are stored - like how you keep facts and things you know in your brain and retrieve them as necessary.

To check how much RAM you actually have (and not just what you "think" you have as I have learned) is to look up your system's properties - it will say right there how much free hard drive space you have and how much RAM you have.

A computer these days needs at least 480-586 MB of RAM - I recently upgraded to 1 GB and oh my goodness is it nice after being stuck on 256 MB!!

If you don't want to buy more RAM, you can increase the virtual memory - this converts hard drive space to be used as RAM, but then you have less hard drive space.

And a side note, if you have more RAM than what your computer says your RAM is incorrectly installed - sometimes the card gets booted or jiggled out of place (if you have a laptop) or it was never put in there the right way to begin with (Best Buy did that to me!!)

Other good things to do regularly: run anti-virus programs (you may have viruses hogging up all the space you're not aware of) and defragment at least every 3 months - it organizes how your files are stored so not as much RAM is needed to open a program.

Good luck. Also read your computers help files, because that's how I learned all of this.

Answer 3

First of all, how do you know you have the memory? Remember that everything on the lower right hand side of your screen is using using memory. You might want to temporarily stop them from running (by deleting a couple of things you don't need to be running). The operating system itself uses memory and XP is a memory hog. You don't say what your OS is or what memory you have but if you're running XP with 256 of memory - you're lucky you can do anything else!!!!

You can also try to right mouse button click C drive in My computers and do a Disk Cleanup and then Defrag. If your PIE graph is more than half full - your computer is probably working hard so might be a good idea to clean up your computer.

Answer 4

You have a program that is a hog and is using more memory, you might be able to free up space if you go through your games and put them on disc. then take a look at your photos, and put them on discs and that might free up some space. then delete and defrag again The other thing that can use up space is Music. and Videos... Also look at the browser you are using if it is Vista it uses A lot of space. I had to do all the above and still had to crash it, reformat and then also added more memory. It wasn't costly just a pain.

Answer 5

it is true, you have to keep in mind that works is not the only thing that is using memory on your computer. Information is stored in memory until the computer determines the best time to write it to the disk. But you can try to increase your file. Control panel, system, advanced tab, under PERFORMANCE, select settings, again at top click ADVANCED tab, at bottom under VIRTUAL MEMORY, you can highten the amount of hard disk space your computer uses as if it were RAM.

Answer 6

It sounds like you are copying and pasting a graphic. If the graphic is too large Works, not your computer doesn't have the ability to process the file. If you don't have a program like photoshop to resize the picture to a reasonable size you can download Picasa from google it will resize pictures for you.

Answer 7

so many things you can do..

add some ram memory.

delete unnecessary files on your hard disk
at least 10% free memory.

increase your virtual memory.

do some disk cleanup
and checkdisk.....

Answer 8

try increasing the amount of hard disk which can be used as virtual meomry. tutorials can be found by searching "increase paging filesize"