why does my computer keep coming up, out of virtual memory?

Question

it's windows xp sp2, amd athlon 2800+ can anybody help me?

Answer 1

Virtual memory is free hard disk space that Windows uses to temporarily write information for retrieval. It acts like a little note book you'd use to write things down so that you don't forget.

Right click on the "My Computer" icon on your destop and select "Properties" on the list. Click on "Advanced" on the tab at the top of the window that pops up, and you'll see 3 sections.

In the "Performance" section, click on "Settings" and select "Advanced". At the bottom of the window you'll see "Virtual Memory" and a total page file size. This is the amount of free space you need to have on your hard disk, typically on the hard disk where Windows is installed (usually C:).

Free up the space required as stated on your hard disk by backing up your files (images, videos and MP3 files are the usual culprits for taking up a lot of space) and uninstall any programs that you don't use, and your problem should be solved.

If you regularly use memory intensive applications (such as graphics editing software, 3D CAD modelling applications), you may be best buying additional RAM modules to increase physical memory. It may well be good to get a new larger hard disk and dedicate that for saving all your images/videos/MP3s, leaving a lot more space in the hard disk Windows is on.

Once you've freed up a lot of space on your hard disk, you can set the page file size (the virtual memory size) limit that Windows can use higher so that it is less likely to run out. Do this by clicking the "Change" button when you're in the virtual memory dialog box, and typing in a larger amount to be used. You can also change which drive Windows use for virtual memory, or assign multiple drives.

If you don't know what you're doing, best let Windows manage it and not change any of those figures, and just stick to clearing up the disk space.

Answer 2

You need more Ram. This is the problem.