My computer is starting to tell me that my Virtual Memory is running low and it will find more room. Is it deleting things it shouldn't when it does this? I have no idea what virtual memory is and the computer runs real slow while it is doing this. It did this after I moved most of my photos to an external hard drive so I should have plenty of room I thought...any explanation will be appreciated..thank you.
Virtual memory means that your system needs more RAM to work with. Think of it like this: in the same way as humans have short term and long term memories, so do computers. The computer's short term memory is its RAM and its long term memory is the hard drive. Due to the fact that you are lacking sufficient RAM (short-term memory) your computer is having to use its hard drive more (long term memory). Accessing the hard drive is much slower than accessing RAM so that explains why your system is running slow. The ways to solve this are 1) upgrade your RAM or my personal preference 2) investigate if there are any unnecessary applications using up your RAM and then close them i.e. you may not need to pay for a RAM upgrade in this case. Unfortunately over time our systems seem to work slower as we install new software and basically junk up the system. For a temporary fix here is a little useful application I used to use when I had a system that was low on RAM http://download.cnet.com/Instant-Memory ... 71833.html Using it will temporarily free up some of your RAM. It's quite nice. None of your files are deleted
Thanks for the link Frank! Mine is just a wereak, trying to save for a new motherboard bundle. I have one interior working fan, one home fan at the back, one home fan in the side of the tower if I don't it keeps overheating so its pretty urgent getting now.
I can't download pictures again no matter what I try and I did what you said Frank but then for the second time my computer gets a dark blue color and tells me windows is shutting down and I have to close everything up. It seems to be working now but I had problems last night but I still can't download pictures.
Sherry, Start making backup copies of anything and everything that you want to transfer to your next computer! My last computer did the same thing for a few weeks before it finally shut down and wouldn't reboot no matter what I tried.
You need to download Free Malewarebytes, and do a scan, it will find any and all problems in your PC, read about it here, it is awesome, would never be without this free program. http://www.udel.edu/topics/spyware/inst ... bytes.html
Hi All, Virtual memory means you need more RAM, but for time being you can move your all data to your drives from desktop. Thanks! moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
Kristy....I know I need more ram but everyone keeps telling me that 8 is too large for me. Mine right now has only 512MB of Ram. I do have it backed up with my clickfree...just don't know what to buy and don't really have the time with Thanksgiving so close.. You said to move all my desktop data...I have no idea how to do that to my drive...do you mean on my external hard drive? Thank you all...
Sherry, Have you tried defragmenting your hard drives? A seriously fragmented computer can affect performance. Windows provides a defragmenting tool that you can use to fix it. In either Explorer or My Computer, right click on your C: Drive, Select Properties, Select Tools, Click on the Defragment Now box and follow any instructions.
Here is the information from Windows Vista help file on how to increase the size of your virtual memory: Change the size of virtual memory If you receive warnings that your virtual memory is low, you'll need to increase the minimum size of your paging file. Windows sets the initial minimum size of the paging file at the amount of random access memory (RAM) installed on your computer plus 300 megabytes (MB), and the maximum size at 3 times the amount of RAM installed on your computer. If you see warnings at these recommended levels, then increase the minimum and maximum sizes. Click to open System. In the left pane, click Advanced system settings. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings. Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change. Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box. Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change. Click Custom size, type a new size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, click Set, and then click OK. Increases in size usually don't require a restart, but if you decrease the size, you'll need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. We recommend that you don't disable or delete the paging file. ------------- If you are using a different version of Windows, search the Help file (from Desktop, press F1 for help) for how to manually increase your virtual memory.
I was told to take all the extra icons off the startup window, that they take up lots of space there. My machine annually cleans up the file. I also de frag my machine . I have xp if that helps. I only have 4 icons on the start up windows. Hope it helps someone else.. b
b, I am not sure I understand what you mean by the "startup window". If you mean the windows desktop, there is a difference between saving files to the desktop and saving links. Saving actual files can slow down performance. Having links to these same files should not affect performance. Both files and links have icons. Normally a link will have a small shortcut arrow in the lower left corner of the icon. An actual file or folder will not. If you mean the files that are loaded at startup when the computer is turned on, then that can affect performance. Depending on the version of Windows that is being used, there are several ways to change this to speed up performance.
I am speaking of when you turn on the computer. The page that shows before you do a thing. Some folks have icons and folders there.. YOu click on each one to get a short cut to the page. I only carry Trash bin on the front . Click start to go to folders , or places. b
