Virtual Memory Low?

Fishbrain · #1 01-23-2008, 08:21 AM

My computer keeps telling me that my virtual memory is low and then it runs quite slowly. What does this mean and how can I fix it? Thanks

meev992 · #2 01-23-2008, 08:52 AM

Reboot computer.

mjolnir · #3 01-23-2008, 09:21 AM

Not quite that simple. My guess is you got too many applications running in the background.

Hit ctrl+alt+del, go into the task manager, and hit the processes tab. The more applications you see running there, the more RAM is getting eaten up. If there's hardly anything running however, it may be a spyware or adware program intentionally eating up RAM.

Fishbrain · #4 01-23-2008, 09:42 AM

cheers =)

**Eric Perry** · #5 01-23-2008, 09:44 AM

How much RAM is on your system?

Bryan316 · #6 01-23-2008, 10:00 AM

First off, uninstall any excess crap that you REALLY don't need on your machine. Fancypants screen savers or loading your Explorer with every toolbar imaginable is a good start.

Next, Spybot and AdAware.

Next, defrag.

After that, check task manager again, and see where you stand.

EDIT: Oh, and your Explorer's cache folder doesn't really need to be huge. Set it to 25-50MB and that should be enough for daily surfing.

mjolnir · #7 01-23-2008, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryan316

First off, uninstall any excess crap that you REALLY don't need on your machine. Fancypants screen savers or loading your Explorer with every toolbar imaginable is a good start.

Next, Spybot and AdAware.

Next, defrag.

After that, check task manager again, and see where you stand.

EDIT: Oh, and your Explorer's cache folder doesn't really need to be huge. Set it to 25-50MB and that should be enough for daily surfing.

Perfect recipe for making that notice go away. Add/Remove Programs is your best friend, and let us know if you need help finding those spyware removal programs Brian mentioned.

lemur821 · #8 01-23-2008, 12:27 PM

How full is your hard drive? Unless it's full to the brim, I can't think why you would be running out of virtual memory (unless you've manually set it to some small amount).

mjolnir · #9 01-23-2008, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemur821

How full is your hard drive? Unless it's full to the brim, I can't think why you would be running out of virtual memory (unless you've manually set it to some small amount).

IMO/IME, It wouldn't necessarily be a problem with too much stuff in general. It's more like a problem with too much stuff running at once.

Bryan316 · #10 01-23-2008, 01:30 PM

OH! And using the Intarweb to translate what some of those running applications or operations, will help you diagnose exactly what programs are using what. when you see a bunch of 500K stuff, it all seems like system operations. but then the occasional 25,000K operation is sucking up a storm, and that's when you determine if it's necessary or not.

Fontaine · #11 01-23-2008, 02:26 PM

this happened to a friend of mine he got that message...BAM 3 years he had herpes, id lose the computer now

kserg · #12 01-23-2008, 02:34 PM

Things i use to optimize PC:
AVG or Kaspersky for antivurs removal (removing all this viruses helps a lot)
Spybot, adaware, A Squared for spyware/adware removal (spyware/adware take up a lot of resources if you have em, bad bad bad)
ccleaner, tuneup2007, sys machanic for optimization (cleaning registry, cleaning cache, memory will help a lot)

Then goto run and type in "msconfig"
After that look at servers and startup and uncheck things you do not need/use. Leave system stuff on as well as anti virus and all that, but things you are sure to not need, uncheck.

After that you can prob remove programs you don't use, but above will help a lot... Look how much ram your machine has... I would have at least a gig. You can also download hiriens and see if you have bad memory or bad hdd sectors.

After all done, defrag the HDD.

Cheers

Fishbrain · #13 02-18-2008, 04:48 AM

i tried doing as much of that as i could but i'm not very teccy }(i do my best though lol)

when i press ctrl+alt+del and check the virtual memory of stuff, my internet explorer is usually at around 200,000. that seems ridiculously high, is it??

mjolnir · #14 02-18-2008, 07:11 AM

...Yeah. Yeah it is.

steve66 · #15 02-18-2008, 07:33 AM

Go to task manager and right click iexplore.exe and kill the process. Then launch internet explorer. See if the memory goes up slowly.

Also check with a different user account.

Chances are if you system has the latest patches installed, and Internet Explorer is high after using a different user account. you probably have a virus.

There is a utility called process explorer, you can search the whole IE process tree and with a little luck find out which other files are using that process

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx

The other alternative is to ditch IE and install Mozilla Firefox

Dan1099 · #16 02-18-2008, 07:37 AM

Stop looking at porn.

Fishbrain · #17 02-18-2008, 07:38 AM

this is my work computer and the system we use is internet based and won't run on FF, only IE. i'll try them other things you've suggested though

Dan1099 · #18 02-18-2008, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishbrain

this is my work computer and the system we use is internet based and won't run on FF, only IE. i'll try them other things you've suggested though

It's your WORK computer? You should DEFINITELY stop looking at porn.

Fishbrain · #19 02-18-2008, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan1099

It's your WORK computer? You should DEFINITELY stop looking at porn.

lol, i know i know

Fishbrain · #20 02-18-2008, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve66

Go to task manager and right click iexplore.exe and kill the process. Then launch internet explorer. See if the memory goes up slowly.

Also check with a different user account.

Chances are if you system has the latest patches installed, and Internet Explorer is high after using a different user account. you probably have a virus.

I'm the only user on this computer, I've just closed it down like you said and started it up again. it started at about 14k and by the time its taken me to get here to post its already on 52k... any thoughts???