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Virtual Memory

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8 replies

by senitaf

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Have some PC's that have 64Mb RAM.
Every so often users are getting the error message, that the PC is running low on memory, and will need to be re-started, the users generally don't have a lot of problems open, maybe 4 at the max.
I have looked at the Virtual Memory settings and the minimum is set to: 0, and the maximum set to: No maximum. PC's are running Windows 96 with 10GB hard drives, and recommendations arrpriciated, or a nudge in the right direction.

8 replies

by thechas

Personally, your Virtual Memory settings are fine.

You simply need more RAM.
I would add 128MB to each system.

Further, you may have memory leaks on some of these systems.
If you installed IE 6 or DirectX 9 on any of these PCs, you may well have a memory leak.

Start by checking for an updated video driver that supports DirectX 9.
If that is not available, you need to drop back to IE 5.5 and DirectX 7 or 8.

Alternately, you can improve performance by installing a memory manager such as MemTurbo.

Another option, is a spy-ware infection.
Download and run AdAware from www.lavasoft.de

Still having problems?
Time for a full fix.
Take one system that is particularly bad.
Back up the data files, and format the hard drive.
Re-install Windows from scratch, and ONLY the applications the user needs.

You may be surprised as to how much faster a clean load of Windows runs.

Other items that can impact available memory:
Large wall-paper files.
Fancy Cursors and Icons.
MP3 and other audio players.

Chas

by cg it

The Chas has the answer though virtual memory is usually 1 & 1/2 times base memory for effective Windows running AND virtual memory is really using a portion of free space on the hard drive. Insufficent freespace can cause the error your seeing. I will say that Windows 9X will very shortly no longer be supported by Microsoft [e.g. patches, security fixes {unless very critical}]. Might be time to look foward.

IMO let the Windows virtual memory manager handle virtual memory and not manually set it. Saves headaches wonder what's happening.

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