how to correct low virtual memory?

Question

i get a message that says low vitual memory,how do o correct this?

Answer 1

The message that indicates you have low virtual memory means that you do not have much space left on your main hard drive. To correct this, delete files and uninstall applications/programs that you no longer need. If you need everything you have on your hard drive, then I suggest that you buy an external hard drive. An external hard drive connects via a USB port. It is like a second hard drive for your computer, and most of the time, you can even run applications off of it. Transfer as much as you can to it, and that will correct your problem. A 120 gigabyte external hard drive will cost you about $100-120. This should solve your problem, and good luck! Happy holidays,
--rbedi100

Answer 2

Windows XP uses 2 types of memory and they are the physical memory (i.e. RAM) and the virtual memory (i.e. paging file). Most people are familiar with the former but not the latter. Loading any program or file requires memory. Oftentimes, the amount of RAM is insufficient. Windows XP’s solution to the problem is to convert a portion of the hard drive (i.e. ROM) to act like RAM. This is the virtual memory (a.k.a. paging file). Now, this is very important, the physical memory works much faster than the virtual memory. So, the key to optimizing memory use is to use up all the RAM before resorting to using the virtual memory.

1.) Optimize the size of the paging file. As a rule, the size of the paging file should be 1.5x the amount of RAM. If you have 256 MB or less of RAM then set the size to 384 MB. If you have 512 MB or more of RAM then set the size to 512MB. If you have 1 GB or more of RAM then set the size to 768 MB. Some computer experts suggest if you have 1 GB or more of RAM then you can try setting the size to 0 (i.e. don’t use a paging file at all). Follow these steps to change the size of the paging file.

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Use an account with administrative privileges.
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Right click My Computer > Properties > Advanced > under “Performance,” click [Settings] > choose the “Advanced” tab > under “Virtual Memory,” click [Change].
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Choose “Custom size” and set the “Initial size” and “Maximum size” to the same value.
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Click [Set] > [O.K.]. Reboot.

2.) Set a fixed size for the paging file. Since the paging file is part of the hard drive, it can be fragmented like everything else stored on the drive. Therefore, for best performance, reduce fragmentation of the paging file. One way to accomplish this is to set a fixed size for the paging file. The steps to do so are mentioned above.

Answer 3

This is for xp To change the size of the virtual memory paging file Open Computer Management (Local). In the console tree, right-click Computer Management (Local), and then select Properties. On the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, and under Virtual memory, click Change. In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change. Under Paging file size for selected drive, type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial Size (MB) or Maximum Size (MB) box, and then click Set. If you decrease the size of either the minimum or maximum page file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Increases generally do not require a restart. Notes To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. You must be recognized as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group on your computer and on the computer you are managing to perform this task. You can view or change system properties on a remote computer or a local computer. To access a remote computer, right-click Computer Management (Local), click Connect to another computer, and then select the computer you want to connect to in the list. For best performance, set the initial size to not less than the 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 In any other OS use the help (F1) and type virtual memory and you will get options on how to change virtual memory file.

Answer 4

I will reboot the machine.
Then I will do a HD clean up and do a defrag the drive.

Two possiblities.

1. Some program is crashing or going haywire and leaving the virtual memory low
2. You start to run out of space in your HD.

Answer 5

make sure you have enough free space on your hard drive, switch the settings to 'system managed size'.
many times I create my virtual memory/swap file on a separate hard disk.

Answer 6

increase your paging file size and or add more RAM.