Hello everyone! I am a newbie to this forum.
I am using windows xp sp2.
My avast is home version 4.8
I have been using it for the last 8 months and um really satisfied.
Take note I am using a stone henge pc(128 mb ram, pentium 4)
It happened lately that all of my programs are behaving strangely. They crash frequently, some do not start at all, my browser isn’t working and I can’t even update avast. 
I gave a thorough scan of all drives and it was unable scan about 500 files. About 490 of them were of my software drive. It couldn’t scan any of the softwares I downloaded from the net.(I scanned them a month ago also and it could scan perfectly at that time.)
All of the unscanned files says: “Unable to scan: Page file storage too low to continue operation”
And in the windows task manager in the performance tab, the page usage used about 250 mb before. But lately it uses 500 mb. I don’t know what the problem is. I tried enlarging the virtual memory, and I got successful in at least opening my browser(But all the other problems still persisit) 
Is any virus causing this problem?
Can someone plzzzzz give me a solution?
It’s really urgent!
From what I understand the virtual memory is the amount of allocated hard disk space that is reserved for RAM overflow, with your computer using this space to swap data between the two when needed.
First of all do you get the yellow ‘bubble’ in the bottom right telling you about the virtual memory being increased of used up?
The fact that you have 128Mb of RAM suggests that it is being used up and also the virtual memory is being used up also.
I also have similar problems as I only have 256Mb of RAM and I have just changed the maximum limit of the page file to 4096Mb (the maximum allowed) and this seems to be working for now.
As you said that you did increase the virtual memory size you either may have not allocated enough space or may not have rebooted before trying other programs, so I would suggest to try to increase it some more and then reboot. Also you may have to limit the amount of applications that you are running at a time, or consider buying some more RAM.
I don’t think that this is due to malware, but I would wait for conformation from someone more experienced than me 
P.S. – You said that you use xp SP2, and SP3 is available and has been for some time so I would also suggest updating this as it may leave your system vulnerable.
Please correct me if I am wrong,
Hope this helps,
-Scott-
Edit:–Typo
I think it’s not a virus behavior, but lack of resources (RAM memory).
Thanks for confirming Tech, glad to know I am getting something right
-Scott-
I have to agree also as 128 mb RAM is really low for running XP. I also agree, Scott, that increasing virtual memory to the maximum will help for a time. But, this can have less than desirable results in the case of low free space on the hard drive. Installing more RAM is the real cure, though.
Welcome to the forums, ajaira. 
@ spg SCOTT
No I don’t see a yellow ‘bubble’. ???
Well the virtual memory CAN be used up. But the condition wasn’t like this even a week ago. A virus(I don’t remember its name although…) attacked my PC a few days back, and from then onwards was my PC behaving so strangely.
I can’t open up avast. It says ‘error loading database’. I downloaded the latest version and installed it but still it isn’t working(and I restarted my computer after installation… ;D)
Now that’s the reason why I am thinking it to be the work of a virus. 8)
My PC is 7 yrs old… ;D only 40 GB hard drive…still I allocated 2GB for the page file.(And am I able to allocate the page file on a drive other than C:\ ? If I CAN then please tell me HOW…) And I rebooted too…
I used SP3 before, and it looked like garbage to me. So I ‘downgraded’ back to SP2. Since its genuine, Microsoft provides me with some important updates. After the mysterious behaviour started, Microsoft wanted to provide me an update on paging-related-something. Unfortunately, it failed to download. :'(( (Page File Storage too low…
@CharleyO
/I have to agree also as 128 mb RAM is really low for running XP./
But it worked perfectly for the last 1 year. And even a month back, there were about 200 softwares installed in my PC. And it worked incredibly! Only about 250 MB were used on paging. I now have less than 20 softwares installed. And NOW it uses double!!
Is it because of really old hardware?
Then what about microsoft’s update?
And I can’t install more RAM. That’s the highest my motherboard supports. Does that mean I need to get a new PC? :o >:( :-
I guess I got no solution till now…
STILL WAITING
OK … let us see if we can find something wrong elsewhere.
Please download HijackThis from the link below. Do not download HJT to the desktop but instead download it into it’s own folder on the hard drive.
Run the program but do not make any fixes and then post the log results using the “copy & paste” method. It will probably take more than one post to be able to get the complete log posted.
OR, you can post it as an attachment to your post by clicking on “Additional Options…” below left of the posting box. Someone will review your log and then offer help.
http://filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
I already have hijackthis.
I’ll use it right away and upload the log…
What is happening is that your running out of ram so your computer constantly uses the hard drive as ram. At a certain point it will reach the max amount that its able to do this . You can change it up or down somewere in the controll panel. Im sorry I dunoo were.