Lately I have been getting a message that the virtual memory is too low. Does anyone know what this mean and how can I solve the problem?

You have way too many programs working in the background. You need to check see how many processes you have running, and make sure you get rid of the ones you absolutely do not need to run the system. DO NOT TOUCH THE ONES THAT OPERATE THE SYSTEM.
This then should help you.

Setting virtual memory really depends on your Operating System.
As JH mentioned you have way to many programs running in the background.
I know I mention this app a lot but CCleaner can help you get this under control.
Not only will it allow you to remove junk files from your system, clean the registry, but also control which programs load on startup.

It a simple case of highlighting the ones you wish to turn off and deleting the entry.

The only programs you really want running on startup are security (anti-virus, firewall, etc), some drivers and windows compontents.

You need to remove things like MSN messenger, Quicktime, Real player, iTunes and the like.
As a rule of thumb only leave the ones you need all the time, as mentioned above, and turn everything else off.

If this doesn't help, let us know your OS and we can offer better advice.

Try increasing your viritual RAM. It worked for me.

rrr, good idea, but without knowing the OP's OS it's a little difficult to give detailed instructions.
This still wouldn't resolve the underlying issue.

Yup, your right. But it might work for W-XP

Would increasing physical ram be a solution too? (I'm not sure on this one)

Cap, yes it would, but still does really get to the root of the problem.

As background, Virtual memory is space set aside on your hard drive to supplement your physical memory. Memory or RAM hold the program instructions and data that you are currently working or have running. So when you run out of RAM, the OS needs put the data and/or instructions that are in the background someplace else to free up the physical RAM. So it places them on your hard drive in space allocated as Virtual Memory.

So VM can be affected by the number of programs installed, if you have very little free space on your hard drive, but its mostly affected by what you have running in the background.

Adding physical RAM, decreasing stuff open in the background and increasing VM are all potential options to alleviate this problem.

It gets to the root of the problem if the OP is trying to run win-xp with 1MB of ram ;p

Windows XP defaults to a "System managed page file". In other words, XP will adjust virtual memory as needed.

If your hard drive is low on space, and you have several programs, tasks, services, etc. running, then that virtual memory issue will pop up.

To check how much VM you have, right click on "My Computer", and select "properties" from the pop-up menu. Click on the "advance" tab, then select "settings" under the performance box.

Go to the advance tab, and at the bottom, you will see a "virtual memory" section that shows how large your page file size is.

The other way, is to hold the "ctrl-alt-delete" keys to bring up the Task Manager, or use the run command and type "taskmgr". Under the "Performance" tab, it will show you all kinds of information.

Like everyone says, more physical ram, a larger hard drive, stopping unneeded background tasks and services, etc. will help.

For advance users ONLY, to stop services, at the run command, type "services.msc" and a list of all services/tasks that XP may use or uses can be stopped and prevented from loading on the next re-start.

A safer way is , at the run command, type "msconfig", and click on the "services" and "startup" tabs. Uncheck the one's that you don't require to start during booting. Mmsconfig allows you to start and stop services as needed, without worrying about making a wrong choice.

Hope this helps.