How to Free Virtual Memory in Windows XP
Many Windows XP users have experienced the frustration of getting a "low virtual memory” error while doing something important or rushing to meet a deadline. Virtual memory is simulated RAM. When you use up your PC’s available RAM, Windows stores data in a special cache on your hard drive. Increased virtual memory means increased empty space for data overflow. Learn how to avoid this and increase virtual memory on your computer.
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Instructions
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Click the Windows “Start” button and choose “Control Panel.” Click “Performance and Maintenance” and select “Systems.”
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Click “Virtual Memory” under the advanced tab. Click “Change.”
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Click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change under “Drive [Volume Label].”
Usually, this will be your primary hard drive, which is the “C:” drive on most computers. -
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Click the “Custom Size” check box under “Paging File Size” for the selected drive. You can enter the amount of memory you want to reserve for virtual memory by specifying the initial and maximum size. Once you've done that, click “Set.”
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Click “Yes” when Windows prompts you to restart your computer. When your PC reboots, the new settings will be in effect.
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Tips & Warnings
To prevent your CPU from constantly changing the paging file, set the initial and maximum size to the same value. For example, set both values to “500”. In any case, the value should be at least 1.5 times more than your physical RAM. So, if your computer has 512MB of RAM, multiply that amount by 1.5 and increase the virtual memory paging file to “768”.
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Comments
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The directions were far from correct on my version of XP but I managed to get where I was supposed to and it seemed to do the trick.
