Question about Virtual Memory

General Topics
1

Hey guys, I got a question about virtual memory. Why does Windows increase it when you SHOULD have enough RAM to take on the tasks ? Also, does the increase of Virtual Memory stay temporary (like it goes back to the set amount) ? I was wondering because every now and then, my virtual memory has to be increased (while my sister happens a lot more frequently …).

Just for reference, I got 768 MB of physical RAM, but when I open the System Information thing, it says the AVAILABLE physical RAM is 461.xx MB ? Anyone know the reason for this ?

2
Just for reference, I got 768 MB of physical RAM, but when I open the System Information thing, it says the AVAILABLE physical RAM is 461.xx MB ? Anyone know the reason for this ?
Simple math: 768 MB of physical RAM 461 MB Availabe Ram ------------------------------- 307 MB currently used by the system.

Virtual Ram is just Ram made available by using a portion of your hard drive.
Not as fast but better than not being able to run your applications.

3

But I’m wondering if the Virtual Memory/RAM value reverts back to the one I set for it. I don’t really mind if it uses the Virtual Memory temporarily and then reverts back to the value I set for it.

I don’t really want a big portion of my HD being used for RAM (I got very low HD memory, 20 gigabytes in total, yeah, I got the PC back at the 2001/2002 years …). If the virtual memory value stays the same large one Window’s edited, then a lot of my HD space will be used for RAM …

4

Hi Happy-Dude,
The following should answer your questions:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php

5

All this talk of Virtual memory and you haven’t once mentioned how much is being used ?

I have 1GB of RAM and currently a Page File use of 262MB and a Physical RAM use of 318MB ish so there shouldn’t be any need for a Page File. I also have two page files one small one on drive C: and a larger one on my second HDD, the one on my C: drive is a fixed size to avoid page file fragmentation. Other than restraining the maximum size the page file can get I have set minimum and maximum sizes rather than tick the System Managed Size option.

So you should be able to restrict the maximum size to a generally accepted/recommended 1.5 times RAM for your Page file size.