When you are running program(s) that require more physical memory than you have available, Windows creates virtual memory, which is 
pretend memory, on the hard drive.  Then it moves the data in it in and out of real memory as it is needed.  This is very 
inefficient and will cause programs to run slower, possibly much slower, than if there is enough actual physical memory.  In the 
worst case you get what is known as thrashing, in which case the overhead of the swapping memory can take much more time than the 
actual program.

512MB is really a bare, bare minimum for XP PRO.  If you are trying to run a fairly large program, you could slow down to a crawl.

Laptop memory has come down in price by a great deal since you purchased your computer.  Adding and/or replacing memory on a desktop 
is very easy.  It should be fairly easy if you can access it on your laptop.  Look and see if there are any access bays on the 
bottom of your computer and see if you can open them find where the memory is located.  You can see if you can access and replace or 
add your memory.

If you go to a site like Crucial, they  have programs that help you find out what memory your computer needs and what it will cost. 
www.crucial.com

Whether or not you should add memory depends on how unhappy you are with your computer's performance versus the cost (and hassle?) 
of adding/replacing the memory.  If you can move up to one or two GB for a reasonable sum, then I recommend that you go for it. 
There is little need to put in more than two GB.

You may have room for two sticks of memory (?) that are now both 256KB each, so you would replace them with two 500KB sticks or two 
1GB sticks.  If you are uncomfortable  doing this, then some places like Best Buy will do it for you for a small fee if you buy your 
memory from them.  It is only a five minute job.  We have some small cottage industry computer shops where I live that would surely 
do it for almost no cost.

You do want to be sure to get memory that is compatable with your current computer!

I think that if you can open the case and see the memory stick(s), you will have  a lot better idea of what is involved.

HTH

Dean Kukral


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lewis C. Emerson
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 3:35 PM
Subject: [PCSOFT] Virtual Memory Query


Friends,
Twice during the past several months a message has popped up saying something like "Your Virtual Memory is low.  Windows is 
increasing your VM, but some applications may be affected".
I'm ashamed to admit that I have absolutely no idea what is going on.  The machine is an Acer Laptop (Aspire 3003WLMi), running 
Windows XP Pro and with 512 MB DDR Memory.
Should this be increased to 1 GB or more?  I have opened the case of two desktops over the past 6 or 8 years and put in an extra 
memory stick.  I really didn't know what I was doing, but just followed the steps that came with the Kingston (I think) memory.  By 
some stroke of luck everything worked just fine.  I have been a radio ham op for 60+ years so was bit familiar and at ease with 
electronic gadgets.
I am older now and more clumsy, and would be afraid of digging around inside into the miniature (probably) innards of this thing
Gentle suggestions would be much appreciated.
Doc, W4ITJ.

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