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Everything Else => Off Topic => Topic started by: Alianora La Canta on November 05, 2007, 11:29:08 PM

Title: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: Alianora La Canta on November 05, 2007, 11:29:08 PM
This post is specially for dare, but if anyone else thinks it will be useful to them, that's great too. These instructions apply to Windows XP.

1. Click "Start".
2. Go to "Settings" (but do not click, instead push the mouse to the right).
3. Double-click on "Control Panel".
4. Double-click on "System".
5. Click on the "Advanced" (please don't get scared; you won't harm your computer unless you do something really unusual)
6. Click on "Performance".
7. Click on "Advanced" (again, there's nothing especially scary here).
8. Ignore the first two bits and look at the "Virtual Memory" bit near the bottom of the window.
9. Read the number. This is your allocated virtual memory. More is better, as long as you've got the hard drive space for it.
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: romephius on November 05, 2007, 11:37:38 PM
Just a quick note....... if you are assigning Virtual memory, the largest size you will ever need is double the amount of ram you have plus 11......

eg: 512MB of RAM = Virtual memory of 512 x 2 + 11 = 1035MB

I can explain the reasons behind this if anyone wants to know why it is this way.

Great explanation there Ali

Rom
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: Dare on November 05, 2007, 11:44:09 PM
Rom,she's attempting to help this pc illiterate
lost soul once again
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: Alianora La Canta on November 05, 2007, 11:45:56 PM
No wonder my PC slows down on occasion - on rom's calculation, my virtual memory was about 2GB less than he advised (I had a 768MB virtual memory space, despite having 1.5GB of real memory). Thank you, rom!
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: Steven Roy on November 05, 2007, 11:52:46 PM
The same sequence(more or less) works with Vista.  I have 1193MB.

Thanks for the education Ali.
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: romephius on November 06, 2007, 12:12:30 AM
The whole Virtual memory thing is so that when the processor (brain) is doing it's thing, It might start becoming a bit full, so it passes information it's processing to the memory while it does something else, but, if the memory becomes a bit full, it then passes that information into a 'swap file' (virtual memory).  The reason for Double the memory plus 11 is that the processor can work with a full memory load, and swap to a new full memory load with a minimum of time, I believe the 11 is for the registry to remain loaded in memory too. 

Reason for creating a static Virtual memory: Because as windows fills the virtual memory up is re-writes the file on the hard drive, this creates pauses (sometimes substantial) while it re-creates a larger 'swap file'... once it is done with this larger file, it re-writes the file to a smaller size again.

Rom
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: Dare on November 06, 2007, 12:23:33 AM
Rom can you reset your virtual memory and if
you can how?thanks matey
Title: Re: Checking Your Virtual Memory
Post by: romephius on November 06, 2007, 01:12:34 AM
well following Ali's instructions when you have the option to specify your virtual memory size you can also select a different drive for it to sit on...... that would be the only way to 'reset' your virtual memory....... otherwise....... reboot your computer.......

Good Luck to you..... if you need extra help I will see what I can do about making a pdf with some screen captures on how to do it all for you mate.

Rom
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