Hey all,

I've been getting a message recently - a lot - about Windows (XP) increasing my virtual memory. This is a topic I know little about, other than it's sort of "fake" memory. I've also noticed things running slow, which isn't a big surprise given that message.

I've only got one thing that is a bit of a memory hog (Paintshop), but I've never gotten that message, and I just re-boot occasionally while using it. And I haven't used it for a few weeks.

Granted, I don't have much RAM, but is there something in particular that would make me get this message all the sudden after years with the same computer and not having a problem? I've been using Turbo Tax a lot recently, but I was also using it in April and last December... and it never did this. But I cannot think of anything that is different. Haven't installed anything besides the Turbo Tax, no games or anything.

Something that might help me understand a bit... does this increase go away when I re-boot? i.e. every time I get this message is it starting from scratch, or adding even more than it did the last time? I guess I feel like it just keeps increasing more and more, and maybe that's not true.

And whatever you need to know, I'll be sure to put in the comments box. :p

<cough> sorry... couldn't resist...

First and best fix is to get more physical RAM.
Easy to fit and relatively cheap.

• To increase your virt mem in XP.
• Right click My computer
• Properties
• Advanced Tab
• Performance Settings
• Advanced tab
• Virtual memory (at the bottom) change
• You have 3 options here, easiest to do is System Managed Size
• set
• Ok
• possible reboot
  
• Job done

Another thing is to clean up your hard drive to free up space.

I clean up my hard drive better than most people - only using half the drive. (And I only have a 60GB drive to start with.)

I'll try resetting it to the system managed and see what it does. It was set at 960 MB. Is that low?

I usually don't set the memory higher than twice the amount of RAM in the system. As too much can actually cause problems too.

Another thing to check is your startup programs. It's possible that something is starting up that could have a memory leak and just eat up all your ram. Even if you didn't install anything new it could be an update to an existing program.

Start
Run
Type in msconfig and press return.
Click on the startup tab.

You could either disable things you know you don't need, or post the list. It might also be easier to run HiJack This and post the resulting log (simple copy-paste).
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

There's nothing new in startup. I did what Ben suggested. Let me see how it acts for a while and see if there's any more problems.

I really need to give in and get more RAM, but it's old and I'll have to hunt it down, plus I'm lazy. :) I'll probably check eBay and Amazon for fun, but also newegg... going directly to like Crucial would probably be expensive. Any good cheaper places to get old memory? (I'd have to look it up but I think it's SDRAM.)

I often find (please confirm this from PC experts) that having a massively busy desktop can slow things down as well. By busy desktop I mean a lot of files are placed at the "My Desktop" folder. Also increasing virtual memory might not be the best as you effectively using disk (which is VERY slow) to help serve the application. Ideally you want to run well within RAM so I support the call for adding RAM. How much do you have and is it a laptop or desktop?

A Large profile (lots of files and folders on your desktop and in My documents) doesn't affect the performance of your system. Mine is several Gig in size.
The biggest drain is having numerous applications running in the back ground.

Have a look at the number of icons your have in the Task Bar, bottom right near the clock..

Now I am a serious power user, due to my job, but I only have a handful of apps running like this.

Ccleaner ( LINK ) is a useful program to help control the start up items.
If you have more knowledge then the same can be accomplished with msconfig from a run command. (If you are unsure what I'm talking about then stick with Ccleaner)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morgaine300

There's nothing new in startup. I did what Ben suggested. Let me see how it acts for a while and see if there's any more problems.

I really need to give in and get more RAM, but it's old and I'll have to hunt it down, plus I'm lazy. :) I'll probably check eBay and Amazon for fun, but also newegg... going directly to like Crucial would probably be expensive. Any good cheaper places to get old memory? (I'd have to look it up but I think it's SDRAM.)

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You can also check tigerdirect. But the problem is that older memory (depending on what it is ) is getting expensive. And for a few dollars more you can build a new system. Check on pricing while your surfing around. It might be worthwhile for you.

Or post your specs here of what your looking for and we can help you with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Curlyben

Have a look at the number of icons your have in the Task Bar, bottom right near the clock..

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Four, including the volume. Two are AV. One is BOINC manager. And when I'm working, a special IM I have to use. I don't want things there and I take most stuff out of start-up. And it's the same stuff I've had there for years, so that isn't doing anything special.

Quote:

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Ccleaner ( LINK ) is a useful program to help control the start up items.
If you have more knowledge then the same can be accomplished with msconfig from a run command. (If you are unsure what I'm talking about then stick with Ccleaner)

---

I know msconfig - that's where I stop those things from running if there isn't a setting in the app itself. ;)

This isn't about any of that stuff. I keep my computer cleaned up, I get rid of stuff in startup, and stop services I don't want (if I understand what they are, that is), defrag all the time, and I do a clean install at least once a year if not more often, so no, I don't mess with registry cleaners (which give me the willies). I always have several extra gig on the C drive where Windows is. Trust me, I keep this thing cleaner than most people ever do. (Well, I do have rather a mess of files on my desktop but they aren't doing anything just sitting there looking cute.)

This is a very recent event. I did talk to my brother about it and told him Turbo Tax is the only thing I've recently installed and he didn't think it was that. However, I've also been opening a bunch of pdf stuff - i.e. instruction books from the IRS, my old tax file I converted to pdf, etc, big files, and switching off from one to another. And he thinks that is what is doing it cause he said pdf's are resource hogs.

I'm aware I need more RAM - but really only on certain occasions. Most of the time things are fine, and even my games I have are older ones. But it sure wouldn't hurt to get more - it just hasn't been a huge issue so I haven't gotten around to it. But this is the first time I've EVER seen this virtual memory thing happen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by califdadof3

You can also check tigerdirect. But the problem is that older memory (depending on what it is ) is getting expensive. And for a few dollars more you can build a new system. Check on pricing while your surfing around. It might be worthwhile for you.

Or post your specs here of what your looking for and we can help you with it.

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I checked eBay, but haven't had time to go elsewhere. I'll check the tigerdirect. And I don't want a new system - I'm a "hold out" person. I'll keep this one until "they" (that would mostly be Microsoft) force me into something, or everything breaks. I'd rather keep what I have than worry about the memory, which merely causes the occasional inconvenience, nothing more.

It's non-ECC DDR SDRAM, DDR333, PC2700, 184-pin DIMMs.

I know this is going to sound ancient, so don't laugh. (I don't do many of the things that most people do - hey, I'm only even using up 20-25 gig of hard drive space, which shocks the heck out of everyone.) I'm finding conflicting info about whether this thing can take 2GB or only 1. I'm also having trouble finding what the motherboard is so I can maybe do a search on it. I found what I need on eBay and no, it wasn't expensive. The problem is that the smallest I found was 1GB, and if my limit is 1GB, that isn't too useful to me. But it wasn't expensive at all... cheaper than when I added more when I got the thing. My brother seemed to be of the opinion that even though I can mix size, that I shouldn't leave one slot empty.

I might run this little program at Crucial that tells me what everything is, but don't know if it'll tell me the motherboard. I do know the chip set, but I don't know if that'll help.

(Really, I should be hunting down a battery for my phone that's dying. It died out on me while trying to discuss this with my brother last night - good reminder that the phone's a higher priority. ;))

Tigerdirect has it in "value ram" for $28 a stick (512mb)

Kingston 512MB PC2700 DDR 333Mhz Memory at TigerDirect.com

If you have never been to tigerdirect. Be careful it's the electronic equivalent of a candy store ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morgaine300

Four, including the volume. Two are AV. One is BOINC manager. And when I'm working, a special IM I have to use.

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I hope this doesn't mean you are actively running TWO AV apps!

Otherwise sounds like you have a hnadle on all of this already.

As for older RAM, worth checking eBay ;)

If you are looking for older ram, sometimes it is actually easier to buy a whole second hand computer and just take out the ram from that one to max out yours. If you need sdram, I see plenty of old computers on the local Kijiji site with 256mb or 512mb of ram installed going for $20 or $30. That way you get your cheap ram plus a few spare parts you might need later.

Straight out of the CompTia A+ book.

"Sometimes the amount of primary memory installed is inadequate to service additional requests for memory resources from newly installed/updated applications/programs. When this condition occurs, the user receives an "out of memory" error, and the application fails to launch.

One solution for this is to use the hard drive as additional RAM. This space on the hard drive is known as a swap file or paging file. The technology in general is known as virtual memory. The swap file, pagefile.sys in modern Microsoft operating systems, is a contiguos, optimized space that can deliver information to RAM at the request of the memory controller faster than if it come from the general storage pool of the drive...

...Nevertheless, relying too much on virtual memory results in the entire system slowing down noticeably. An inexpensive and highly effective solution is too add physical memory to the system, thus reducing it's reliance on virtual memory"

Beings you only have a 60GB HDD to start with and half is available relying too much on virtual memory (increasing your swap file) will slow down your PC more then helping it.

As stated above by many. I sugget purchasing more RAM.


NOTE: I realize this post is a few months old but I wanted to educate those who are unsure of exactly what virtual memory is! ;)