Virtual Memory Problem

AngelAmidala · Nov 10, 2003

Hello!

About a month ago I got a new computer at work. I haven't had any problems with it until Thursday when it started to give me those evil "you're running low on virtual memory" messages.

I'm not running extenisive amounts of stuff in the background...maybe 2-3 IE session, my e-mail client (Lotus Notes), MSN Messenger, and sometimes AIM or Yahoo Messenger. I've run all this stuff before...and even more...but haven't had a problem until last Thursday.

I don't get much of a choice of the system or what the computer comes with...since it's a computer give to me at work.

It's running Window 2000...Pentium 4 (2.40GHz).
I'm not sure how to find out any of the other information someone might need.

The only thing I've changed on the computer was updating to the latest verion of MSN Plus (for MSN Messenger). I had been running MSN Plus without any problems before so I don't know why the latest upgrade would've caused the problems that are happening now.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mister Ale · Nov 10, 2003

This may help.

http://www.planetcerec.com/2002/00000017.shtml

ern · Nov 10, 2003

You might have some spyware on your computer so try running Spybot security.kolla.de and Adaware http://www.lavasoftusa.com. If you still have problems you can increase your page file size (virtual memory). To do that right-click My computer, then

>go to properties
>advanced tab
>performance options
>click change under the virtual memory section
>Then increase your minimum page file size by 5-10% or so.

AngelAmidala · Nov 10, 2003

Thank you both very much!!!

Staggnant · Nov 11, 2003

Also clear out MSCONFIG. Go to start > Run... > type in MSCONFIG > click 'okay' > Click the STARTUP tab to the far right. There will probably be a lot of unnecessary programs running in the background. If you're running Windows XP, click the "Disable All" button near the bottom. Then click apply, then okay. It will restart the computer. After restart, check the box that says "don't display this dialog again." Then click okay. You'll notice faster response time, bootup, shut down, and probably will not get that error again.

doofus125 · Nov 11, 2003

Staggnant said:
Also clear out MSCONFIG. Go to start > Run... > type in MSCONFIG > click 'okay' > Click the STARTUP tab to the far right. There will probably be a lot of unnecessary programs running in the background. If you're running Windows XP, click the "Disable All" button near the bottom. Then click apply, then okay. It will restart the computer. After restart, check the box that says "don't display this dialog again." Then click okay. You'll notice faster response time, bootup, shut down, and probably will not get that error again.

VERY BAD ADVICE!!! Doing that will disable any antivirus software, firewall, network software......I decided to try this and yes it does disable stuff that needs to load.....

AngelAmidala · Nov 11, 2003

Don't worry...I didn't try that one.

I knew about msconfig from Win98 (my old work computer) and used it to disable some stuff I just couldn't keep from trying to pop-up even though I had uninstalled it. But msconfig doesn't seem to be recognized by Win2000 or even WinNT (what one of our other work computers had for awhile).

doofus125 · Nov 12, 2003

AngelAmidala said:
Don't worry...I didn't try that one.

I knew about msconfig from Win98 (my old work computer) and used it to disable some stuff I just couldn't keep from trying to pop-up even though I had uninstalled it. But msconfig doesn't seem to be recognized by Win2000 or even WinNT (what one of our other work computers had for awhile).

Ok, I'm assumeing you are running windows 2000 pro on this new computer? How much physical ram does it have (start, settings, control panel, system)?
I have XP Pro but I'm going to do a backup of my system and load 2k here and see how to get into MSconfig if there is one...I didn't use 2k long enough to know because my old computer (this month makes it a year old) got fried and I got another new one with XP, lol.....I'll be back in a couple of hours with my findings ....maybe sooner, lol, I keep forgetting I have 3 computers connected to the internet here at home, lol.....

doofus125 · Nov 12, 2003

Ok, I did the 2k thing.....I couldn't find a way to edit the startup items that are normally in the msconfig.....I'm going to post a couple of links of spyware/adware removers....if that doesn't resolve the issue I will go to the next step of walking you through adjusting the virtual memory if needed......

AdAware = http://www.lavasoft.de/
SpyBot = http://security.kolla.de/

Run both of these and it should clean up any spyware.....if you don't have a firewall install this one to keep the spyware and stuff out.....

Zone Alarm: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=zadb_zadown

AngelAmidala · Nov 12, 2003

I have AdAware and SpyBot already and have run both. It did clean up some stuff, but didn't solve my overall problem...which is when I posted here.

I checked my physical RAM...and I think the number you're looking for is on the first tab that shows up, right? That would be 260,080KB.

I did do what Mister Ale and ern suggested and I haven't had a problem since. But any additional tips would be appreciated.

Deacon · Nov 13, 2003

She has 256MB of RAm which should be fine.....I run that on XP and I run games, and graphic programs and everything like that.....there might be something that you are running that is sucking up your virtual Memory.

doofus125 · Nov 14, 2003

Hey Angel....Check this out.....

http://www.drd.dyndns.org/index2.html

Once on this page click on "Software" and then scroll down the "MSConfig for Windows 2000"......download the zip file, unzip it and then throw it into your C:\windows\system32 directory...(might be C:\winnt\system32....but you get the idea)....then you should be able to just put msconfig in the run box and it should open.....

AngelAmidala · Nov 14, 2003

AWESOME!!! Thanks a lot!!!

LovingMother · Nov 14, 2003

I'm not sure if this is a problem on desktops, but my laptop uses shared memory, which means not only are my programs gobbling up RAM but so is my video. I had to bump up my memory to run games at all. I now have over 700K and still get the virtual memory problem when I run games. If your computer is sharing memory, then your actual available memory would be your total memory minus the memory used by your video card.

doofus125 · Nov 14, 2003

I really think the issue is that something is loading that doesn't need to be loading or something has adjusted the virtual memory settings......I did install win2k on my other partition, but I have to switch back and forth because my nic controler doesn't have a driver besides the xp one...I think I will try to look it up through Dell because I think they had 2k drivers listed for my system, that way I can be more percise when telling you how to adjust your virtual memory settings

doofus125 · Nov 16, 2003

Hey Angel, I now have XP and 2K dual booting here and I got everything to work so if you need any help let me know My next project will be to get win 98 on here and it'll be a triple boot .....hehe

AngelAmidala · Nov 16, 2003

Thanks doofus! You've been a great help so far! I'll definitely let you know if I run into anything else.

pinPoint · Nov 17, 2003

if this just happened recently but wasnt before then.

1) you drive may be getting full
2) a memory leakage from a program(ex. Zonealarm)
3) check for viruses
4) or just plainly change the size of your page-file to slightly higher value

pin

Staggnant · Nov 23, 2003

doofus125 said:
VERY BAD ADVICE!!! Doing that will disable any antivirus software, firewall, network software......I decided to try this and yes it does disable stuff that needs to load.....

Not bad advice at all. If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have disabled it. Go to google and look up 'paks portal,' 'msconfig,' and 'startup,' it will have what you need to disable or leave in there.

doofus125 · Nov 23, 2003

Staggnant said:
Not bad advice at all. If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have disabled it. Go to google and look up 'paks portal,' 'msconfig,' and 'startup,' it will have what you need to disable or leave in there.

The problem is that Win2k does not have the Msconfig utility unless you install the XP msconfig onto the system like I listed above so there isn't going to be a listing of what needs to load for Win 2k......When I said it was bad advice I was refering to disabling everything in the msconfig utility.......

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