Virtual memory and RAM

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Believe it or not, I was informed last night that my virtual memory minimum was too low on my computer. Before, I just let that warning slide, but last night, the funniest thing happened.

I was opening up a game and the graphic that displays the name of the game looked strange. Then, it disappeared. I restarted my computer, and incredibly, the graphic displayed properly. I wonder how it changed its look in the first place.

The game name looked strange because it was trying to load information from memory and failing. The game disappeared because it was designed to quit gracefully if it cannot get enough memory (RAM or virtual) to load into.

From you post, I would hazard a guess that you are running a program that is taking and then not releasing memory or a huge program that is remaining in memory. There are many possibilities from needed windows system applications to an errent application to a virus/spyware/worm type program.

I would also like to know how much RAM you do have. Today, the average system would need 256 - 512MB to run. More is better. In fact, RAM upgrades have resulted in better performance than CPU upgrades.

ljbouchard:

I think you are right about both things. The program was trying to load information from memory and failing. It was designedto quit gracefully if it cannot get enough memory to load into. I was not expecting the program to load properly after I had restarted my computer. I guess miracles can happen if we go about finding a way to solve problems. I have at least a gig of RAM.

1GB of RAM is fine so that is not the case.

When you reboot your computer, you clear out all of the RAM and virtual memory as part of the reboot process. Since the game worked after that, it would suggest that you have a program running somewhere that has a memory leak. This means that it is taking memory and not giving it back. A beta game that I play does that once in a great while.

Good Luck finding the errent program

Since the begining of Windows95/NT3.51, i've always, as a system administrator, scheduled at least one 'preventive reboot' once a week.

I agree though that you better fix the problem (find that memory hungry program) than just finding a way around

It shouldn't be very hard. Next time your game quits on you, do a Ctl-Alt-Del to launch the task manager, go to the Processes tab and then sort the processes by Mem Usage. Windows itself will use a lot of memory, but somewhere near the top of the list will be a program you didn't think you were running... Maybe you have some spy-ware on your machine.

which operating system does he have?

Alex!

I am glad to see we have gotten back in touch. I have Windows XP.

Here's a link to a program I use to help optimize memory, it works well for using one time, but will slow your system down if you have it working constantly. Use it once, then close it, when you slow down, use it again. =P

http://www.download.com/3000-2086-10070530.html

That should fix the problem. For servers I can schedule it to run once every six hours or so.

Here are some OS 9.x tricks and Theories:

1)...Virtual Memory in 9.x is 1mb more than
installed ram for good performance, or ....
in my case,

installed ram at 384mb
virtual memory at 385mb.

"anything above that 1mb will
degrade performance"

2)....Ram Disk(Scrach Disk?)

When running on batteries their is
signifacant performance
increase and battery life it you use
a ram disk as a OS carrier.

for example,
384mb Ram to start,
256 will be made into a Ram Disk
(OS 9.x and Internet setup) and
whether your plugged in or on batteries
you have increased downloads and
online speeds(I am using a 266 Wallstreet
for a model example.)

In conclusion,
I don't know how this may apply to a PC
OS, but I figure computer theories tend
to cross connect regardless if it is a Mac,
or a PC.

Hmmmm?

I hope this is some good insight?

From....
Ghosthunter

If you think it's spyware or a virus, IM me on AIM, and I'll send you:

Spybot- Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware SE Personal

They're useful.