Virtual Memory Low

[RitaM]

It has been a while since I have been really into the hardware (or even software aspect) of computer technology, and unfortunately I am having what seem to be some hardware related issues. As of about a week ago, my computer has been running extremely slow at times, especially in the morning when I get on and it has been left on all night. It has also been giving me a windows error that says my "virtual memory is running low" and that "windows is adjusting it now," etc. Well whatever windows did doesn't seem to be working because I am getting the message increasingly more often. After the message pops up, I get a few "Progrom not responding" prompts from various programs and the computer locks up and I must reset using button. What little info I knew regarding memory types and computer hardware in general is now lost, and I call on you guys for help. Thanks a lot, and here are my specs:

- ASUS K8 Triton Series, nForce3
- AMD Athlon 64 3500+
- Seagate 80gb HD @7200rpm (about 89% full)
- Kingston ValueRam: PC2700, 512gb x 2
- ATI Radeon 9800Pro

Things I plan to try tonight:

- Complete defrag
- Full system scan (anti-virus, spyware)
- System clean-up

[cauzomb]

keep approximately 3 gigabytes free hard drive space for virtual memory, more if you are using big scratch disks with image/video editing. You can make a good backup of all your important data, then delete the stuff you backed up that doesn't get used often, once you have your backup, disable system restore, restart your system in safe mode and delete the restore folder.. This folder can get HUGE. Once the restore folder is cleared and your backed up stuff is safe, turn system restore back on. You may want to ensure that your system is free of malware or any viruses, spyware and/or adware before turning off system restore. Take a trip to our spyware help section and see if you don't have any baddies.. If nothing else, upgrading to a larger hard drive would work well too.