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  • What if some of your bulkier applications have started to slow down to a snail's pace and others simply crash when you try to run them? You might fix the problem by purchasing more RAM, but in some cases it might be smarter (and cheaper) to just increase your "virtual memory" instead. Virtual memory is a chunk of your hard drive that your computer uses as if it were RAM. This lets applications that require a large amount of RAM run smoothly even if you are short on actual memory.

    Background Information

    Your computer uses two main methods to store information. These are the "RAM," which is often simply called "memory," and your hard drive. RAM is like the short term memory in your brain. Applications use it to store data while they are running. You hard drive stores data long term. With virtual memory, your computer begins using sections of your hard drive as if they were actually RAM. This allows your computer to act puffed up and full of RAM even if it isn't.

    Freeing Up Hard Drive Space

    The easiest way to increase your virtual memory is simply to free up some hard drive space. If you hard drive only has a few megabytes of space left, your computer will have no space left to use for virtual memory and will be forced to manage with whatever physical memory it has. Before trying any other solution, aim to free at least 20 percent of your hard drive. If you have a 320GB hard drive, make sure you have at least 64GB of free space. If after doing this, your applications still lag, you can try manually increasing the amount of hard drive space your computer uses for virtual memory.

    Windows Vista or 7

    To manually increase your virtual memory in Windows Vista or 7, go to the "System and Maintenance" applet of the Control panel, then select "System." In the left-hand panel, click on "Advanced system settings." Your computer may ask you for permission to continue. If it does this, just press "Continue." This will bring up a dialogue box. Click on the "Settings" button under "Performance." Go to the "Advanced" tab and click on "Change," under "Virtual Memory." Now deselect the button that says "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives." Select "Custom Size" and you will be able to enter a value for the maximum amount of disk space that you want your computer to use for virtual memory. When you're done, just click "Set."

    Windows XP

    The process for manually increasing virtual memory in Windows XP is similar. Click on "Performance and Maintenance" in the Control Panel, then click on the "System" icon. This will bring up the System Properties box. Click on the "Advanced" tab, then "Settings," under the heading "Performance." This brings up the "Performance Options" dialogue box. Go to the "Advanced" tab and click on the "Change" button under the "Virtual Memory" heading. This will bring up yet another dialogue box where you can increase the total size of your computer's maximum virtual memory. When you are done, simply click "Set."

    Mac OS X

    Unlike in Windows, the current Mac operating system will not allow you to adjust virtual memory settings manually. Instead, it makes all of these adjustments automatically. So if you have a Mac, just make sure that you have enough free space on your hard drive, and your computer should automatically use a good portion of it for virtual memory.

    Source:

    "Before Memory Was Virtual"; Peter J. Denning

    My Digital Life: Free Space to Maintain in Your Hard Drive

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