Virtual Memory?
 

So I ambyfar not a computer guy at all. Recently Ive been having a pop up saying my virtual memory is low. Its causing everything to slow down horribly. How do I fix this? Itsa Compaq Presario lap top.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

You sure its not a spam pop up.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Are you connected to the internet when you get this? Try disconnecting from the internet and see if this still occurs.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

LOL thats what I was getting at, it sounds like it but its tought to tell without seeing it

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Retards. It means you have too much crap on your hard-drive. Either delete stuff or get more physical memory

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

I came close to filling my hard drive many times and it never said "Virtual Memory" it says "Hard Disk" or "C Drive".

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

virtual memory = RAM........

when was the last time you turned your computer off?....try doing that. Programmers are notorious for having memory bugs in programs, they allocate memory and then dont give it back to the OS when they are done with it....this causes your RAM to slowly fill up....just turn off your computer and let your RAM refresh for a few seconds and you should be good to go again.....get some more RAM too

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Dude

virtual memory != RAM.

When your physical memory is fully used, your computer uses your hard drive as a memory storage device. Your computer allocates space on your hard drive to use it as virtual memory. When you have too much crap on your hard drive and not enough physical memory then you get that message.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

You probably also had plenty of physical memory or wasn't running any memory intensive programs.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=virtual+memory+low

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

If you are using Windows ? and you have your OS set up std and windows is managing your virtual memory ... then yup... you prolly have not enough disk space for windows to allow your virtual memory to expand..

If you DO have space on your drive and your virtual memory is setup manually and it is set at a fixed size, you can open it up to cope with more load ..
I would suggest you do not frigg around with virtual memory settings if yo do not have enough basic knowledge of your OS :eek:


Best advice is to take anything unnecessary off of start up ..
Delete / uninstall anything/programs that you are no longer using ..
Let windows manage your virtual memory settings ..

;)

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Thanks boys. I reformatted, and obviously its much better. I dont store much stuff on here, so I dont know where its all coming from.

Edit. How do I install more ram on a laptop? do I have to open up the computer like a tower?

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Woow ...you reformatted your drive:eek: that is drastic , but yer it will clean all the **** off ..;)

Watch what you download mate as many many seemingly inocent applications have Malware and Addware built into them that will eat you memory before you get started using it yourself ..


:D

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Nauree is correct.


DDCavi. Go to control panel, open up system and post how much ram it says you have.


*example*

Attachment 65331

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Ha. 384mb.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

348 MEG ? that sounds like what you may have left at that time while running ..
because ram does not come in that size?;)

If you only have that much spare ram while shes running even after reformatting ....get some more ram!!!

1 gig is minimum but 2 or 3 "gig" of ram is close to the norm these days ..

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

So what do I need to look for and how difficult is the install? I appreciate the help guys.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

You probably have 1 stick of 512mb or 2 sticks of 256mb.

Ya I'd install at least 1 gig or more. Ton of ram online for cheap.


Also you probably have stuff starting up when windows does and that eats up ram.

Start - run - type in msconfig - click on "startup" and uncheck programs you dont want to start when windows up. Like messenger, any kind of anti-virus, etc. If you dont know what it is then leave it checked.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

384 = 256 + 128

you need more ram... by the amount you have now, i would guess your laptop is really old and you may have trouble finding more ram for it though.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

pop some ram in that ship and start up cs!!! oh wait seeing u have no ram u probably cant even plauy games too. ha ha at u.
1 add more ram
2 add more Virtual Memory in ur OS setting. loook it up.
3 buy a new pc if ya only have that much ram. hate to think what the rest looks like. 10 gig hard drive? jk

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Yea its definately an older comp. Probably 3-4 years old. My parents have a brand new desktop they gave to me, but I only have wireless here. And funny enough its because Im stealing it from my neighbor. Would I need to buy a wireless card or something along those lines for the desktop to work? Or do some new desktops come with wireless cards already?

PS Im not a gamer

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Virtual memory is teh suck, I have my page file turned off.

I do have 4 GB though...

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Physically popping the ram in is easy. It's finding out how much ram your laptop can actually take, and what kind you need, thats going to be the tuff part

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Yup...I think that a novice should just take it to a shop , get them to check it for what it will accept and let them pop it in ..

Its a 2 second job for someone that knows ... ;)

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

if your desktop doesn't have a wireless card, you can get one for dirt cheap (less than $20)

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Let me fix that for you.

When your physical memory is fully used, your computer uses your hard drive as a memory storage device. Your computer allocates space on your hard drive to use it as virtual memory, called a page file. When your page file is filled up, then you get that message.

Your hard drive can be completely empty and you will still get the error message if your page file is full.

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Windows uses plenty of virtual memory well before it gets near using all of the physical memory...

RE: Virtual Memory?
 

Physical memory is not hard to use up... especially when you are running memory intensive applications. When windows can no longer dump data to a virtual memory (page file) you're gonna run into problems... such as low virtual memory warning. Considering he only has 384 megs of RAM it's no rocket science why he is having issues.