PC slowing down - virtual memory??

raz_uk

Hiya everyone

Just a quick problem I have noticed lately - my PC popped up with a message saying the system was low on virtual memory and that it would undertake a process to increase it.

I've never had such a message before and my hard drive is 1.5GB free - its gone kind of lethargic and slow now. Windows take a while to open up, it goes especially slow when im on IE.

I've ran malwarebytes and avira to rule out foul play - and my PC seems virus & spyware free. I also ran hijackthis and nothing seems out of the ordinary...

Ive deleted a few files and now the PC is 2.85GB free on the hard drive.

Is there anyway of sorting this problem via the virtual memory settings?

GunJack

firstly, run CCleaner, registry and cleaner scans and delete everything they find. Second, do a disk cleanup and defrag (open my computer, right-click on your hdd, properties, disk cleanup..once it's calculated how much it can free up, click the options tab and click to clean out old restore pointsand backup copies, ok it through and let it clean up...then, under Tools tab, defragment, defrag now and let it run (may take a while if you've not done it for ages).

Then, go to control panel, system, Advanced tab, Performance settings button, Advanced tab, virtual memory change button, select system managed size and set...ok out....this will allow the virtual memory to run at the level it needs to...

Marty_J

You really need to clear some space on your HDD.

2.85 GB isn't an awful lot.

GunJack

^^Yup, go through the cleaning process first and then see about deleting any old crappy files hanging around unused....sometimes the cleaning&defragging can free up GBs of space, especially if using vista and it's not being done regularly..

AirCooledHeaven

If you are running XP and allowing it to manage your virtual memory it usually likes to have 1.5GB to 3GB available, that's why you received the message. Probably time to consider upgrading to a larger hard disk.

ITtim

or consider up grading your physical memory. probably cheaper. how much does the machine have?

macman

How big is your hard drive? Roughly speaking you want a minimum 15% free space. So even on a old 40GB drive you should have around 6GB free. 2.85GB is just not enough
You could probably use a RAM upgrade too-what do you currently have installed?

raz_uk

macman wrote: »

How big is your hard drive? Roughly speaking you want a minimum 15% free space. So even on a old 40GB drive you should have around 6GB free. 2.85GB is just not enough
You could probably use a RAM upgrade too-what do you currently have installed?

at the moment I have a 75GB hard drive

aliEnRIK

Download WINDIR to see whats taking all the room up ~
http://windirstat.info/

Download HIJACK THIS (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
Click DO A SCAN AND SAVE A LOGFILE (Takes seconds) then post the log so we can see whats running (Backup utilities etc)
(do NOT do anything else with Hijack but scan and post the FULL log)

sunshine54

virtual memory warning, is an indicator of low RAM not hard disk space. it means windows has to use your hard drive temporarily because the RAM is maxed out at peaks
removing resorce hungry applications will improve matters if you want a free fix. Alternate is to add more RAM.

macman

You may well need more RAM as well, (how much do you have installed?) but the immediate problem is that your hard drive is 96% full. You neeed to reduce that by at least 10% to free up some space.