'Virtual Memory Low' message

Question

Windows XP Home Edition

Have received message several times now about Low Virtual Memory. Not sure what Virtual Memory is and how it works on my PC or what it is on the internet that uses VM. So....what do i do to remedy this situation?

Thanks...

dan39 · Answer

go to system properties, you can get there by right clicking my computer then properties from there advanced > in the performance section click settings > advanced tab > change virtual memory at the bottom, then you can do custom size or do system manage. it sort of depends on how much ram you currently have in setting the virtual memory.

garyft · Answer

Virtual memory is simply hard disk space being used by Windows to "simulate" memory. There are a few possibilites:

1. you may have several programs running in the background that are using memory. You might try a program such as Ad-Aware or Spybot to check for unwanted programs such as "spyware" that may be using memory.

2. If you have less than 256 MB of memory, you might consider adding memory to the system. 256 MB is really the lowest amount needed to run Windows XP efficiently, although Microsoft says it will run in 64 MB and Dell sells systems with only 128, these are not enough for really efficient operation. 256 is better, and 512 is even better than that.

wndrwmn · Answer

is the software to detect these unwanted programs free somewhere?

why would I have these problems after a year?

i do have 256MB RAM

should i be leary about making any changes...how does this work.

TIA,

dan39 · Answer

you should really consider adding more ram to get to 512mb. also do a google search for ad-aware and spybot. you probably have a good deal of spyware on your comp. should you be leary of making changes? i think you shold if winxp is asking you to.

garyft · Answer

Also, make sure that you update it frequesntly.

carnier1 · Answer

I had the same problem a few months ago. You can get Spybot Search & Destroy at PCWorld.com. It's free. After I ran it and got rid of a lot of spyware and I didn't have that problem again. Just make sure you run it once a week or so.

Colleen

HR Guru · Answer

I would like to get to the internet to download spybot or adware, but I haven't go enough memory to get there, though my hard drive only shows half the space being occupied. Please help.

Navin kurian · Answer

Goto start>run type msconfig click on the startup tab on the right hand corner .Click the "disable all " button. then click ok and restart.

then goto start>control panel >add/remove programs removal all the programs you dont need .(gets help if you dont know what to remove). Skip anything with symantec.mcafee,windows xp,intel,dell .

then goto www.spybot.info and download spybot you can also goto

the virus board

http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board?board.id=si_virus and get info on how to use it

low memory can alos be cause by certain programs i was using a java based program viewlet builder and the whole screen froze up after having spybot and spyblaster on my comp

Storage, Drives & Media

"Virtual Memory Low" message

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