Friday, September 2, 2011

How to boost your Virtual Memory!

In this post i describe step by step how to increase your computer's virtual memory... Don't know what virtual memory is? =P

Well then let me explain!

Virtual memory is what allows your computer to process programs which may require more memory/RAM than you have! For example. John Smith's computer has 2gb (gigabytes) of RAM built into his computer (Those small little electronic circuit boards which fit into the main board). Now John is a busy man! and John needs his computer to run many different programs at once! John would like to browse the Internet, check his e-mail, edit a photo in his favorite photo editing program, listening to music on his computer, talk to his friends in an instant messenger program, and write up a document in his favorite word processing program! Phew!..John might be too busy!

Well what is going to end up happening as John works more and more doing all the things mentioned above, is that his computers built in RAM is going to run out and his computer will slow down horrifically so. And then poor John wont be able to do any of those things and think he has to call a computer repair guy.

Ah but wait! =D That's when VIRTUAL MEMORY kicks in to give John an extra boost in memory power! Virtual memory acts as a back up reserve of memory in case the computer runs out of normal RAM. Yay no costly computer repair service for John!

"Well how does it do that?" Glad you asked!

Virtual memory works by taking some un-used space of your hard drive and treating it like memory, adding it to the amount you already have. You can specify how much virtual memory has to work with by following these simple steps...

STEP 1:
First check to see how much hard drive space you have available for virtual memory to use. Double click on "My Computer", then right click on "Local Disk(C)" and then click on properties. Now the number with the pink icon represents how much space you have free to use on your hard drive. Remember this number! It will help determine how much virtual memory you can use.

STEP 2:
When you got that then RIGHT CLICK on the "My Computer" icon and select properties. Click on the advanced tab at the top and then click on the "Settings" button in the performance section. After which you will need to click on another tab at the top called "Advanced". And then hit the button called "Change" in the Virtual memory section!

STEP 3:
Now you will see two text boxes with numbers in them labeled "Initial size" and "Maximum size". Click on the little button that says "Custom size" so you can edit those two text boxes.... Now remember the number that told you how much hard drive space you have available? What you want to do is make sure you have at least any where from 5-10gb of space available before you change the numbers in the boxes. IF you do then you can go ahead and specify as much as you would like in both the initial and maximum amount. 3000-4000 is a good amount, Make sure the maximum size is at least 1gb or 1000 greater than the initial size!

Now when you have your numbers in place you will need to hit the "Set" button to finalize it and then hit the "Ok" button.

Here is a video walk through of how to do it in windows xp!



ADDITIONAL NOTES

If you start to run low on hard drive space, your computer will give you a warning about your virtual memory and you will have to go back into your virtual memory settings and scale back down your numbers.... Or else remove some stuff from your hard drive, maybe un-install a program or two or delete old files to free up some space!

20 comments:

  1. hehe next good blog about computers :) followed :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. this is pretty cool, I didn't know this was possible :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ahh, this might come in handy! You're the man!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome, thanks for letting me know!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Never knew that was possible. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow man, doing this right now! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post. I like the way you break things down.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I gotta give this a try. I do sound like John Smith!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Aaaand done! Hope this helps with dead island...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Doing this on Windows 7 takes me a few time, and the changes are notorious. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I really like your site. Will keep checking back here. Computer Repair Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
  12. There are various methods to boost your virtual memory. You can either use any software or can kill your unwanted process of pc. Thanks!
    Computer Repair Sydney

    ReplyDelete
  13. Appreicate your thoughts, Im not always in agreement, but you do cause a peron to think keep blogging!carpet cleaning adelaide

    ReplyDelete