Virtual Memory Too Low

I keep getting a little yellow security icon that has a pop up box attached stating "Windows Virtual Memory is too Low ". This is a fairly new computer (less than a year), used for home and school uses only with very little programs and software on it. I go through each week and do the disk clean up as well as clean out the junk email that is downloaded from friends and family. According to the analysis, there is 83% of free space on the computer. Does anyone know what the Virtual Memory is?

 

Your computer caches information for quick retrevial, this is what virtual memory is used for, it is basically hard disk space that is used as extra memory.
Right click on your my computer icon and select properties, click on the advanced tab in the window that is displayed. At the top click on settings for performance then advanced tab to access the virtual mem setup. The best option for home use would be to use "system managed size" so the OS should control what it needs.

 

Pardon the highjack here, but what does it mean when a HD says that it has a 2mb cache? Is that a portion of the HD, or is that some kind of built-in electronic memory?

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stewb0323, here's a link to a small program that I use to clean out junk, temp, & other useless files on my pc.

http://www.diskcleaner.nl/

It might not solve your problem, but it could find some overlooked junk on your system.

 

Yes hard disk cache is a sector of the hard disk that acts just like virtual memory. It does the same thing in the sense that it stores frequently used data for quick retrieval.

 

My Maxtor HD has a 2mb cache...Is that something different than the cache that is controled by Windows that you noted in your post to stewb0323 ?

 

The HD cache memory is a RAM chip contained on the HD controller board. It is not associated with the system RAM contained on the Motherboard nor the Virtual Memory Cache which is a dedicated HD area set aside for the purpose.

Good read here on the HD caching method.

And a subsequent link.

 

stewb0323, pls post back with some information.

Boot to the desktop, do Ctrl+Alt+Del, go to Task Manager -> Performance tab and post back with the figures under Physical Memory (let us know if you have to wait until they stop changing).

Go to My Computer, right-click on the Windows drive and select Properties. Let us know the figures for Used Space and Free Space.

I take it that the HD cache (2mb) will not be able to solve the problem (great info though).

Matt

 

Thanks surferdude...That was good reading.

I'll have to bookmark that info for later on.

 

re:

I think the best way to deal with something like that is to create a seperate partition on your hard drive with something like partition magic and use that for page file as long as it ties in with your memory then it doesnt get wasted on your main partition this usually helps on pc's with less memory.

 

wondering what's in startup? many old progs that are in need of updates or incompatible will cause such an error.

do u get same in safe mode? and if not, use a startup manager to determine if any of the progs automatically starting are the cause.

it may also help to advise what u'r disk is specifically. make/model/size/supported by bios/partion size(s) and format - ntfs or fat32 etc.

general info like machine make/model and OS SPs? maybe check u'r manufacturer for firmware updates - like bios.

 

Virtual Memory

Firtual Memory is the chips inside your machine that is running your operating system and software. VM is managed automatically by XP, but it gets' confused if a rogue program is scooping control of it, or if you have a virus, that would account for it too.

 

I think we established earlier that virtual memory is exactly that "virtual ", just a file on the hard disk which the cpu swaps information in and out from.

 

Quite Right, on Paged HD Ram but...

I have noted that several our our XP machines recently where getting similar messages, all with tonnes of room on the HD. The VM settings where all set to automatically have the o/s manage the VM cache. But what I found was that the VM that typically gets used on the HD wan't getting accessed properly by the VMM (virtual memory manager), and in all cases it was a virus / malware chewing up the RAM.
Only in one case it was an Autocad Program (Inventor) that has a bug that doesn't release RAM from it's processes properly. Nothing we can do about that one yet. But screwing around with partitions, and the like is a huge waste of time and energy if the problem is just a rogue problem (as it was on these).
We did online scans with Housecall and found a few trojans hiding that the (updated and current) Antivirus pgm just was unaware of.

Good luck!