My computer keeps telling me I am low on virtual memory. How do I get more or what do I need to delete?

Question

I have an Acer AC713. I have bearshare and download alot of music and have alot of pictures saved on there. Do you think that could be part of the problem. It won't even let me burn a cd do to this problem.

Answer 1

I would suspect SpyWare is using up much of your real RAM, so your computer wants more Virtual Memory. But expanding the virtual memory IS NOT the solution. Removing the Spyware IS.

You should have an anti-spyware solution on your computer. I recommend that you go to http://www.download.com and get AD-AWARE and SpyBot Search & Destory. Install, run, update and scan your computer with both programs.

These are cleanup tools. Ad-aware cleans files, and SpyBot cleans the registry.

If you are running Windows XP, then you should have at least 512 MB of RAM. Look up your system at http://www.coastmemory.com and BUY MORE. Maybe you should aim for 1GB of RAM.

Good luck and Happy Computing!

Answer 2

I don't see it as being a disk-space problem. I have an old Sony with 30 GB free of disk space empty, and I always have low virtual memory.
The best thing to do would be to go out and buy yourself 512 MB of RAM and install it (very easy, just ask someone at Circuit City/Best Buy etc. about it).
Virtual memory is where the computer stores what shows up on your screen. Since monitors refresh their images between 60 and 72 times a second, it is much faster to get the image from an electronic storage area (RAM) then a mechanical/magnetic storage area (your hard-drive). A little more RAM can go a long way.

Answer 3

Virtual memory is space on your hard drive reserved to act as memory when your installed memory gets full. Windows, by default sets the size of the virtual memory at 1 1/2 times the size of the ram installed. Running virtual memory off the hard drive is lots lots slower. Some say to increase the size of your virtual memory but that's just a band-aid and not a fix. The true fix is to make it so you never have to go into the doggy virtual memory at all and thats done by adding ram. If you're running an inept amount of ram its a good idea to reboot your rig once in a while and clear your ram so you dont get into the virtual memory as often. Also go into msconfig startup and uncheck the boxes for the progs you don't need up starting up and running all the time. With less apps running your ram wont fill up as fast.

Answer 4

The first thing to do if not already is to restart. As a computer runs it just takes up more memory until it runs out. This memory has little to do with your hard drive unless it is completely full, which the computer will also complain about (In which case you need to delete some of your music files you don't need anymore)

Restarting cleans out all the junk that has collected in your RAM and virtual memory.

By the way, Acer AC713 is your monitor, which has nothing at all to do with what computer you have... You need to look on the computer itself for information like that.

Answer 5

Depending on how much memory you have installed, your best bet would be to install more physical memory. Virtual memory is a part of the hard drive that allocates space for temporary files, and then deletes it when the computer shuts down. Try Restarting your computer three times, if that doesn't work, you may want to install more memory

Answer 6

Check the free space on the disk, less than about 20% on an 80 G disk could be a problem. If you have plenty of disk space just right click my computer and select properties, advanced settings gives you a virtual memory control, increase the actual and max. If not you could consider getting an external drive and moving your documents etc to it.

Answer 7

Regardless of whether you have big or small sized RAM, VirtualRAM are important too as they are being used as a storage area where data is stored before they are being sent to RAM for processing and send them back to VRAM before storing it back into harddisk.

If they do not allow you to burn CDs, then you have a serious low space problem. Remember that in order to burn data, you need to have harddisk space equal to the CD/DVD size. So if you are trying to burn DVD and you only had 200MB of free size, you will not be able to burn since the burner software need that huge amount of space before they can start burning the files.

Hope that helps =)

Answer 8

sounds like u need more memory any more these days u need 1024 ram . more if you dl alot of stuff depends on operating system 2 should be using xp at least

Answer 9

virtual memory is diskspace so i would have to se you running low on diskspace uninstall some programs you dont need or delete some files you dont need.

Answer 10

You could be runnning low on hard disk space, as pagefile are rely on hard disk space, this could be your problem.