April 18, 2007

Dear Sassy: I received an error message on my computer stating that my virtual memory was low. Am I really losing my memory (on my computer not in real life)?
~Memory Loss

Dear Memory: Sassy is guessing that the error message also said that Windows was fixing the problem. If you have received this error message once - don't worry. Like Windows said, it fixed the problem. However, if you have received this message several times it could be a problem with Windows. First, we should make sure that your hard drive isn't too full. To do this, Right click on Start, Left click on Explore, locate the drive that you want to check (in this case it is the Local Disk C:), Right click on Local Disk C:, and Left click on Properties. This will open a new window with a graph as well as text noting your free space vs. used space.

If the amount of free space is under 10%, you will need to clean up your computer a bit. You can utilize the Disk Cleanup button on this screen to gather more free space. You could also delete old files - or move them to the libfilesbackup machine.

If the amount of free space isn't the problem, it could be just a setting in Windows that needs to be altered. On your desktop is an icon for My Computer. Right click on My Computer, Left click on Properties, Click on the Advanced tab at the top, find the Performance section and click Settings, Click Advanced, in the Virtual Memory section click Change, look for the System Managed Size option and select it if it isn't selected. With this change you will need to restart your system for it to be in effect plus it should end all the warnings.