heyup guys,

just needing a little help with my comp... I quite often get a message that pops up from the bottom right of my XP toolbar saying summat along the lines of 'Your virtual memory is running low'. I've also noticed that when i log onto certain websites, namely Shockwave.com to play pool, it takes ages on my comp whereas in uni it's pretty instant.

Can someone tell me what this may mean? Do I not have enough memory (I have 512MB RAM), or is my t'internet connection at home really slow???

Thank you kindly,

Lee

To adjust Virtual Memory Settings go to:

1.Control Panel

2.System

3.Advanced

4.Performance Settings

5.Advanced

6.Virtual Memory (Change)

And increase as to what suits you best.

thanks for the swift reply J...

i've done that and set it to 1024 but doesnt appear to make any difference...

ive also noticed that svchost.exe hogs a lot of memory on my task bar, could this mean anything?

cheers,

Lee

Originally posted by Leebo84
thanks for the swift reply J...

i've done that and set it to 1024 but doesnt appear to make any difference...

ive also noticed that svchost.exe hogs a lot of memory on my task bar, could this mean anything?

cheers,

Lee

If i remember rightly your virtual memory should be set around 2 1/2 times the amount of Ram you have on-board, with an upper limit of 3095mb as this is the highest figure Windows XP will handle (apparently).

It is perfectly normal for svchost.exe to use large amounts of RAM at times. You will also notice multiple instances of svchost.exe running. This too is perfectly normal :)

As i type, i have one instance of svchost using 34,872k ;)

Originally posted by vidster
If i remember rightly your virtual memory should be set around 2 1/2 times the amount of Ram you have on-board, with an upper limit of 3095mb as this is the highest figure Windows XP will handle (apparently).

It is perfectly normal for svchost.exe to use large amounts of RAM at times. You will also notice multiple instances of svchost.exe running. This too is perfectly normal :)

As i type, i have one instance of svchost using 34,872k ;)

Your quite right there chap.

i think it is 1 1/2, so in this case 768Mb. but there is no reason why you cant set it higher.

it will not guarentee great improvement but should go someway.

reboot ur machine after you make the change.

svchost is a windows process and is related to the services that run on your machine. it is normal for it to be high, but it might be worth checking that you dont have any unecessary services running, UPnP for example

hi steve,

how do i know what processes are meant to be running and what ones aren't???

i have some things running like frameworkservice.exe and mhotkey.exe which look a bit dodgy...

thanks

Lee

It also pays to create your swap file on your fastest disk (on a separate channel if poss.) and make it a static size.
This involves setting the max and min size to the same value.

Defrag first to ensure your new static swap file is not fragmented.

Works for me!

frameworkservice.exe - You might be onto something there.. See http://www.mac-net.com/320480.page

ones that are not meant to be there dont look like they belong. or are plays on safe processes, taskmg.exe for example, looks like the legit taskmgr.exe

the best way to find and learn is to google the processes. also do a start -> run and services.msc.

there is the list of services on ur machine.

its quite possible that there is nothing untoward on your machine but i think it is a good idea to know what your pc is doing and learn about it.

too many people dont have a clue and cant help themselves when they have a problem, at least u seem willing to learn! ;-)

how patronising did that sound?

Originally posted by Leebo84
hi steve,

how do i know what processes are meant to be running and what ones aren't???

i have some things running like frameworkservice.exe and mhotkey.exe which look a bit dodgy...

thanks

Lee

They do indeed look dodgy LeeBo :(

You can check all the programs running in Task Manager Here (http://answersthatwork.com/)

By far the best place to learn about services IMO would be from BlackVipers website. Unfortunately his website has been down for a couple of weeks but someone on CbtTechs found somewhere that has archived his site.

Archive of BlackVipers website (http://web.archive.org/web/20041128084144/www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm)

Please pay attention to the dependencies!

I always find http://pcpitstop.com/ really useful as a first place after virus checking to diagnose computer problems. It will analyse your hardware, internet speed, graphics, currently running programs, installed programs and lots of other stuff and tell you exactly what you need to do in order to make your computer run optimally.

Hope that helps,

Grant