windows virtual memory

Repa,
1) Got a balloon notice that my Windows Virtual Memory is too low. It said Windows is increasing the size of paging file. During this process, memory requests for some apps. may be denied. More info, see Help. Where do i find "Help", that is mentioned?

2) I did a search on it, & was wondering if you think the following link is a good fix? http://www.ehow.com/how_6669624_fix-windows-virtual-memory.html

Has Repa been around recently? I was just wondering if he might be on vacation?

Sorry WC, I've been rather busy and haven't looked at the message board much lately. You will find your answer in the computer tutorials here:

https://geeksgeeksmoregeeks.forumotion.net/t1159-tut28-low-on-virtual-memory-problem

I understand, thanks for the info.

I forgot to mention that I have 1gig of ram

Set the Minimum to 1536 and the Maximum to 2048. Upon reflection, I took a look at how much virtual memory the applications on my computer were taking up. The big virtual memory hog is Ad-aware. Some time ago, I disabled Ad-aware realtime processing and only use it as a scanner during maintenance periods. I had to start Ad-Aware to see how much virtual memory it was taking up, and it is huge - about 145MB. I had replaced it with Windows Defender a while back, which runs in realtime and gives realtime protection against malware, takes up less than half the virtual memory that Ad-aware does, and will update its malware definitions automatically. You can find Windows Defender at:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17

To disable Ad-aware realtime processing and keep it as a scanner to run when you start it:

1. Click Start > Run, type services.msc in the text box and click OK.
2. Find Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service in the list that appears and double-click on it
3. Stop the service and change the Startup Type from Automatic to Manual. Click OK.

Doing all this, you might even see an improvement in your computer performance.

Repa,
Thanks for the additional info. I've been really dis-satisfied with Ad-Aware for quite some time now. Besides the memory hog, it takes forever to open up as well.

Only using it as a scanner now, do you have to update it manually now, and I assume you still have the older version, that you gave me? I don't remember the Version.

If you continue to use Ad-aware when doing your scans, you will need to update the malware definitions manually before doing a scan. You have to manually open Ad-Aware for it to run, and manually exit it for it to stop running. I still have the old version, and if you haven't upgraded the software, then that's what you have too.

You might want to take a look to see what processes are taking up the most virtual memory, just for grins. To do that:

1. Open the Task Manager by pressing the Ctrl > Alt > Delete keys simultaneously on your keyboard.
2. On the Task Manager window, select the Processes tab if it isn't already selected.
3. On the menu bar, select View > Select Columns and then check Virtual Memory Size and click ok.

Now you can see how much virtual memory each process running is taking up. Iexplorer and firefox take up a lot. I don't know about chrome - when you started using chrome, is that when your low virtual memory problems started? See how much virtual memory chrome is taking up. Do you have a lot of stuff running at the same time? All this can affect how much virtual memory is in use at any one time.

I just changed the Min. setting to 1536, & Max. to 2048, and went to my email, and computer seemed to run faster than it has been running. I still have to disable Ad-Aware, & install Windows defender. I still need to use the majorgeeks link you gave me do the page defrag.

And, I'm just now seeing your last post about what processes are taking up the most virtual memory. I'll let you know when I find out.

I've been using Chrome most of the time since installing it. It seems to be working faster, & fewer problems, than my other browsers now. Browsers I've got now include IE, Firefox, Opera, & Chrome.

Quote: "when you started using chrome, is that when your low virtual memory problems started?" Yes, but, I'm not sure how long after I began using Chrome, that I received the "Too Low" virtual memory window.

Another thing, on 8/16/11, I installed a 15 day free trial of Carbonite. I don't know what effect that might have on everything, but, you probably know.?

I'll post my results as soon as I have them.

Quote: Do you have a lot of stuff running at the same time? All this can affect how much virtual memory is in use at any one time.

When I'm checking my email, sometimes I'll open up 5-6 or so, Tabs. Other than checking email I usually don't have a lot of things running.

Task Manager Virtual Memory Usage Report:

There is 4 entries for Chrome: 2 of the entries continued to go up in number from opening of task mgr.
Chrome.exe 48,000K & continued to climb upward
Chrome.exe 10,916K & climbed upwards to & beyond 80,900K
Chrome.exe 18,684K Stationary
Chrome.exe 30,744 Stationary

Firefox.exe 68,158K & kept increasing in number up to 102,036

Opera 44,496K I opened up a couple of weather websites & numbers increased in size up to 120,700K & more

Ad-Aware 20,256K, & I started a scan to see if numbers increased, & Yes they did. Up to & more than 30,444K

There are 2 entries for Carbonite:
Carbonite UI.exe 13,160K
Carbonite Service.... 54,960K

Appears to be quite a few Virtual Memory Hogs on my computer! After reading these numbers, what do you think? Will I need to get rid of some things, ie. browsers, Carbonite is just for 2 weeks, any suggestions? or will it work out like it is?

Now, I'm gonna disable Ad-Aware, I wanted to check it's memory usage before doing that, then get Windows Defender, & then try the page defrag you mentioned. I'll post update.

Repa sorry for so many posts before your reply, but, I have to post when I can. You hopefully can do likewise.

1) I disabled Ad-aware per your instructions.

2) Then, I downloaded & installed Windows Defender.

3) I could use some help with the settings if possible? I left the first 2 boxes blank, one said "Use Recommended Settings, & I think the other box was about "Install Definition Updates Only. And, I was asked if I wanted to join "Microsoft Spynet Online Community", & not knowing what to do, I passed on that also. I clicked the "Ask me later" box, the only one that I marked.

( I'm leaving the following sentence in here to let you know that computer was acting strange, to say the least.) There was more to this post, but, all of a sudden the crazy thing began deleting the rest of it on it's own. So, I'll have to come back later and try to post it again.



4) After Win. Defender was installed, it ran a Quick scan, & it said "Your computer is running normally, no unwanted, or harmful software was detected." Computer doesn't seem to be running normally to me. The blinking cursor just began gliding across the page, pushing the word "After" where you see it located now, at the end of the margin. I'm posting this using Opera, since I used Chrome when I posted the first 3 items in this posting, and 1/2 of the post got deleted, so I thought maybe Opera would be better. Looks like I was wrong

I'm gonna stop here and try again in a few minutes.

I'm back in Firefox now, editing this, and I see above the word after was moved from the location that it was in when I clicked on "Send" to post this.

5) One last mention about settings in this edit post. Win. Defender set up an auto scan to be Run at 2AM. My computr is not on at 2AM. So, if it is unable to run with computer off, that will need to be changed.

I need to post this about the Pagedefrag you suggested. Internet Explorer nearly drove me crazy trying to get to the majorgeeks link you posted. It acted like it used to and was the reason I originally installed Firefox. It kept saying page not found, or something to that effect, and it would just be slow as molasses downloading that.

Anyway, You didn't tell me it was in a Zipped File, in 3 sections.
1) Eula.txt
2) pagedf...
3) a ? with a circle around it, pagedf...

It told me the files needed to be "Extracted"and then it would reboot. I followed the prompts and after the extracted files finished, it did not automatically "Reboot", so, I did it manually. And, after doing all this I couldn't tell what good it did, if any.

But, after the computer was acting strangely, I would assume that it might have been a bad idea to try the pagedefrag.

There was a radio button or circle with a green dot in it, that said that it would defrag after each reboot. None of this makes any sense to me, but, I assume it does to you, I hope. You didn't mention if I am supposed to keep the pagedefrag application or not? So, do I keep the download/installation, or what?

Quote :

wcturner said:

Another thing, on 8/16/11, I installed a 15 day free trial of Carbonite. I don't know what effect that might have on everything, but, you probably know.?

No, I don't know; I back everything up on an external hard drive. Shouldn't have any effect unless they have something calling home all the time, or are constantly uploading stuff from your computer.

When I'm checking my email, sometimes I'll open up 5-6 or so, Tabs. Other than checking email I usually don't have a lot of things running.

Well, every tab you open adds another 30 -50MB of virtual memory being used up.

Appears to be quite a few Virtual Memory Hogs on my computer! After reading these numbers, what do you think? Will I need to get rid of some things, ie. browsers, Carbonite is just for 2 weeks, any suggestions? or will it work out like it is?

If you are only using one at a time, then the others aren't taking up virtual memory space. But, see how things go for you with the new settings.

Then, I downloaded & installed Windows Defender.I could use some help with the settings if possible? I left the first 2 boxes blank, one said "Use Recommended Settings, & I think the other box was about "Install Definition Updates Only. And, I was asked if I wanted to join "Microsoft Spynet Online Community", & not knowing what to do, I passed on that also. I clicked the "Ask me later" box, the only one that I marked.
One last mention about settings in this edit post. Win. Defender set up an auto scan to be Run at 2AM. My computr is not on at 2AM. So, if it is unable to run with computer off, that will need to be changed.

You can change the time Windows Defender does it's daily scan by opening Windows Defender and on the menu bar click on Tools > Options. You will see where to change the scan time. Frequency should be daily, Type should be Quick Scan.

The other settings to check there are:

Default Actions: you want Quarantine, Quarantine, Default Action

Check the box beside "Use realtime protection (recommended) if it isn't already checked.

Everything else leave as set.

Pagedfrag: It told me the files needed to be "Extracted"and then it would reboot. I followed the prompts and after the extracted files finished, it did not automatically "Reboot", so, I did it manually. And, after doing all this I couldn't tell what good it did, if any.But, after the computer was acting strangely, I would assume that it might have been a bad idea to try the pagedefrag.

You have to run the program at intervals you choose. Should be done usually during your routine maintenance period when you defrag the hard drive - run pagedefrag first before you do the hard drive defrag. Look at the pagedfrg.hlp file (the one with the ? mark in the blue circle to learn more about what pagedefrag does. Yes, you have to reboot - it won't do it for you. It tells you what it did after it finishes during a reboot on the blue screen before Windows opens, but it doesn't stay up long enough to read it. I've been using this program for a long time - never once had a problem.

will win defender auto scan run with computer off?

No, nothing will run when the computer is off. Set it to run at a time when it is on. You'll never notice it if you are on the computer.

pagedefrag won't run in safe mode, will it?

don't know, never tried it. You just schedule it to run before you log off or reboot and it runs and does its thing during reboot before Windows opens. It's kind of like when you do a boot scan with Avast.