What is virtual memory?

Question

If my computer says that I have 2GB of virtual memory and I've used 1.96GB should I be concerned? How can I increase my virtual memory?

Answer 1

Virtual Memory (A portion of your free hard drive space) is created by a computer to store short term items. It is not written to your hard drive. Windows gives you two options on how to use VM. You can allow Windows to manage your VM or, you can specify how much you want your system to allocate to VM.



If you are in Windows 2000-Based Computer

1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.

2. Click the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, click Change, set the "Initial Size" and the "Maximum Size" values for the paging file to 0 (zero), and then restart your computer.

3. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.

4. Click the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, click Change, reset the "Initial Size" and the "Maximum Size" values to the recommended values for Windows 2000, and then restart your computer.

After you configure the paging file to an appropriate size, the temporary paging file is deleted and virtual memory errors no longer occur.



To work around this issue, create enough free disk space to accommodate the size of the temporary paging file.

Answer 2

Virtual memory is an addressing scheme implemented in hardware and software that allows non-contiguous memory to be addressed as if it were contiguous. The technique used by all current implementations provides two major capabilities to the system:



Memory can be addressed that does not currently reside in main memory and the hardware and operating system will load the required memory from auxiliary storage automatically, without any knowledge of the program addressing the memory, thus allowing a program to reference more (RAM) memory than actually exists in the computer.

In multi tasking systems, total memory isolation, otherwise referred to as a discrete address space, can be provided to every task except the lowest level operating system. This greatly increases reliability by isolating program problems within a specific task and allowing unrelated tasks to continue to process.





Virtual memory is created using a special file called a swapfile or paging file.



Whenever the operating system has enough memory, it doesn't usually use virtual memory. But if it runs out of memory, the operating system will page out the least recently used data in the memory to the swapfile in the hard disk. This frees up some memory for your applications. The operating system will continuously do this as more and more data is loaded into the RAM.



However, when any data stored in the swapfile is needed, it is swapped with the least recently used data in the memory. This allows the swapfile to behave like RAM although programs cannot run directly off it. You will also note that because the operating system cannot directly run programs off the swapfile, some programs may not run even with a large swapfile if you have too little RAM.



Increasing Virtual Memory:



Close the programs you don’t need and close unneeded documents in programs you want to keep running

Also, install more RAM

You receive a “There is not enough free memory to run this program …You can turn on virtual memory or increase the maximum size of the virtual … Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop, and then click Properties on …

support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q199/3/40.ASP

Answer 3

RAM or random access memory is where applications and the operating system store data that has been read and compiled by the CPU. Retreival of this data is very fast because it is stored on chipsets connected directly to the motherboard. The more RAM, the faster software functions.

To keep as much RAM available as possible, virtual memory is used by the operating system and applications to store infrequently but required functions and data lists in a special area on the hard drive called a page file. This data has also been read and compiled by the CPU, which makes execution nearly as fast as RAM.

The amount of virtual memory can be left up to Windows to decide how much it wants. This is OK, but manual settings can improve overall system performance. To set, right click on my computer, select properties. The amount of physical RAM you computer has wil be shown on the first page. Select the advanced tab, select performance options then click change settings. Normally, the amount of virtual memory is 1.5 times RAM. So if you have 512Mb of RAM, use 768Mb of virtual memory. In your case, I would guess since your are being alerted by windows of the amount used, you are allowing windows to set the amount or it is set to the minimum which is 2Mb(not Gb).

If it really is reporting 2Gb, with 1.96Gb used, the system is about to crash or lock up. The more windows you have open, the more memory is required, and the slower the system will run.

Answer 4

Virtual memory is a portion in your harddrive that Windows treats as an extension of your physical RAM. The system swaps information from physical RAM to virtual memory and vice-versa to free up spaces for the use of other running program.



You can set the size of your virtual RAM in system settings but I would recommend that you let Windows manage it (use default settings).



If your memory are being used, try restarting the system. If, after restarting, you still find that your system is busy doing some tasks, verify if the running tasks are sanctioned or a malicious activity.



Some allowable tasks are:

Virus (and other malicious programs like spywares) update and scanning, Windows updates, etc.



Unsolicited programs are run by virus or similar programs.



You can find more information on virtual memory here:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory.htm

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_memory

Answer 5

Virtual memory is a feature in Windows that allows you to use hard drive space as RAM memory. This uses paging files which are usually defined be a range like 120-500 MB, but probably more. To increase the size of the file, go to Control Panel, click System, go to advanced, in Performance click Settings, then in Advanced click Change. Change settings in that screen.

Answer 6

Virtual memory is actually space set aside on your hard drive.

The general rule of thumb for the size of this memory is 1 1/2 times the size of your ram that is installed. If you have 512 Mb ram you should have 768 virtual if you have 1 Gb ram you should have 1.5 Gb virtual. The virtual ram is used by programs that are to big to be loaded entirely into ram so it goes there. Your computer accesses this virtual memory as needed and with it being on your hard drive it is slow access and slows your computer down. That is why they say get more ram (depending on your os and motherboard) and you can speed up your computer because everything is loaded into ram not virtual memory.

Answer 7

Virtual memory is an addressing scheme implemented in hardware and software that allows non-contiguous memory to be addressed as if it were contiguous. The technique used by all current implementations provides two major capabilities to the system:



Memory can be addressed that does not currently reside in main memory and the hardware and operating system will load the required memory from auxiliary storage automatically, without any knowledge of the program addressing the memory, thus allowing a program to reference more (RAM) memory than actually exists in the computer.

In multi tasking systems, total memory isolation, otherwise referred to as a discrete address space, can be provided to every task except the lowest level operating system. This greatly increases reliability by isolating program problems within a specific task and allowing unrelated tasks to continue to process.

Answer 8

To do this in XP, go to the "Control Panel" and click on "System". Then click the "Advanced" tab. Then Click "Performance Settings". Click another "Advanced Tab" and change the "Virtual Memory" to 4096MB, or at least 3000MB. Then, "Apply" the changes. Everyone should do this for better performance! This is Hard Drive Space that is reserved as Memory, for your system. Make sure you have enough space left (1024MB=1GB) http://www.investmental.com/superpc

Answer 9

virtual memory is an extention of ur main memory,but it is stored in Harddisk while acting as main memory.

2GB of virtual memory is already too much.600 -800MB is usally required for home users unless u r going to run high resource applications like MAYA.

Answer 10

desktops have some actual reminiscence calld RAM and on the comparable time can use area of no longer difficulty-free disk as though it replaced into RAM (digital reminiscence). you are able to evaluate digital reminiscence as very very slow RAM. No at present eighty GB isn't sufficient. I have no know-how approximately macs yet i could recommand a Intel middle 2 Duo, with 2GB RAM, 250GB no longer difficulty-free disk,...

Answer 11

did you tried a disk clean up? (start/all progarms/accesories/system tools/diskcleanup)