What does it mean when my computer says, "Low virtual memory?"?

Question

Do I need to clear the cache? If so, how do I do that?

Answer 1

Virtual memory is hard disk space that's used temporarily to simulate RAM. When your RAM gets full your OS swaps things that haven't been used in a while to your virtual memory so that more RAM is available for program you are running. "Low virtual memory" means your running low on the disk space needed for virtual memory. You can increase your virtual memory by going to control panel -> system -> advanced -> performance -> advanced and then change the size of virtual memory at the bottom. Keep in mind making it larger will consume more of your hard disk.

Answer 2

The amount of virtual memory on your computer is defined as the combination of your physical RAM PLUS the size of your swap file usually set by Windows to be 1 to 2 times the size of your physical RAM.

The message is telling you that you are using a lot of your virtual memory and the system is running low on resources.

There are 3 possibilities.
1) This is the most common one. You have too many applications or tabs in the browser or spreadsheets in Excel, etc open at the same time. Close some applications, some tabs, etc.

2) You need everything open that you have open, and the system is stretched to its limit. Add physical memory when you can.

3) Your hard drive is running out of space. There isn't enough room for the system swap file. Delete some files, uninstall applications that you don't use, clean your desktop, install a second hard drive and put the swap file over there.

4) Some combination of the above 3.



Open the task manager (right click on the Start bar where there are no icons. Select Task Manager from the popup menu). Click the Performance tab. On the right, under Physical Memory, you will see the actual amount of physical memory (total) on your system. Below that, the amount of memory available. A good operating system will have a number of at least 100,000 in the Available line. When that number gets below 20,000, you will start experiencing performance problems. And somewhere down there, you will start to see the "Low on Virtual Memory" message.

The solution is to close any applications that you have open that you don't need. Each Internet Explorer window takes 30mb to 50mb. Each browser tab, adds another 30mb to 50mb.

If you find that you get that error message often, then you may want to investigate exactly which application is the resource hog, or you may just want to add some additional physical RAM to your computer.

Just to be clear: Unless the problem results from having no hard drive space left, uninstalling programs from your computer or clearing your cache will have no effect.

Answer 3

When your computer says 'virtual memory' they mean what is 'stored' in your RAM (random access memory) chips, not what is on your hard drive. To 'clear this' and get back more 'virtual memory' go through and 'turn off' anything that is 'always open' to Internet sites, then do a 'soft reboot' ... you don't have to turn the computer 'all the way off' but just go through the 'turning the computer on' stuff ... and your warning about 'low virtual memory' should go away ... and when it comes back on, just 'reboot' again ... if it comes back every day, though, see if you can't 'add more RAM chips (you must 'match' the ones you have, or buy all new ones) for more 'virtual memory' storage.

Answer 4

It means you are low on your virtual memory, your virtual memory is a combination of your RAM and Pagefile, the Pagefile is like RAM on the hard disk, where data is stored in automatically for some files, and then as a backup if you run out of RAM, by default, windows takes care of the pagefile, it's just notifying you that it needs to increase. Unless it's been set to a specified amount, you should close out of some of your programs, and limit the number of programs that start at boot.
It has nothing to do with being low on hard drive space.

Answer 5

virtual memory is space on your disk drive that is reserved for windows to use when it runs out of RAM. either your hard drive is getting full, or you dont have enough memory allocated for "swap space" (another word for virtual memory)

to check, first look to see how much free space you have on your hard drive. Open windows explorer and right-click on the c:\ drive and select
properties" it will show you how big the drive is and how much space you have left. if its under a few Gig then i would consider either cleaning up the hard drive or buying a bigger one.

If you have space on your hard drive you can check your virtual memory settings this way:
right click on "my computer" and select "properties"
then click on the advanced tab
under the "performace" area click "Settings"
when the performance options dialog box comes up click on the advanced tab
near the bottom you will see "virtual memory" The amount is listed in MB, click "change"
it will have either the setting of "System managed size" or "custom size"
I never let the system manage it so click custom and set the size you want in the initial and maximum size boxed. the number you put in here is in Megabbytes and as a rule of thumb the number is 2 times the amount of RAM your computer has installed for instance if you have 2 Gb RAM then you have 2048 MB of RAM so your size should be 4096 in both boxes. 1 Gig = 1024MB so 2048MB of page file

click ok, apply all the way to close all the boxes out. you will be prompted to reboot.. go ahead and do so.

that should do it.

Answer 6

The best fix is to add more RAM to the machine, if there is room to install more. The operating system uses a disk area (too small in your case) to spill overflow information that won't fit in RAM. This is an adequate workaround in many cases, but the access is much slower than for real RAM. So, more memory will speed up the machine as well as deal with the virtual memory shortage. Go to www.crucial.com to find out how much memory your machine can use.

Answer 7

Virtual Memory is hard drive space the operating system uses for paging stuff in and out of real memory.

Depending on your operating system, this is probably what you want.
Go to Control Panel -> System. Click the Advanced tab

Click performance options. You should have the ability to change the amount of VM your system is using. Make sure you have enough hard drive space free for this.

May also want to defrag your hard drive it you've had it a while.

Answer 8

Virtual Memory is the same as RAM. It means you have too many programs or processes going at the same time. If you use your computer for gaming or playing media, it would be best to have 512 MB of RAM (alot of pcs just come with 256). Mine actually has 725. It just depends on what you use it for. Anyway, I'd check into buying some more RAM. It comes on a little card you have to get installed. My sister tells me its harder to install on a laptop than on a desktop, as she's been taught in school how to install it.

Answer 9

Could be your hard drive is getting full. Make sure to click the button "let windows manage virtual memory" and yes it may help some for a while to clear your cache.

Answer 10

Yes clear the cache and memory. Click tools than internet options, than clear history, and clear files. You can also download a program called Ccleaner that will do it all for you.