I have Windows XP Pro.I don't know if this works with earlier Operating Systems.
Virtual Memory is used like Random Access Memory ( RAM ).
You don't need to install new RAM chips to use this feature of Windows.
It is recommended you keep the ratio of Virtual Memory to RAM at a 2 to 1 ratio.
I made mine a bit bigger with no bad results.
Use your own judgement.
All the screenshots below open in new windows.
Just left click on them & click on the maximize button to see them bigger. :)Click on START/SETTINGS/CONTROL PANEL
Right Click on SYSTEM.
Click on "Open".In the System Properties window click on the Advanced Tab.
Under Performance click on the Settings Tab.In the Performance Options window click on Advanced.
In the Advanced window in Performance Options in System Properties click on "Change" in the Virtual Memory box.
See Next Screenshot (It explains itself)
You see 1000 in each box.
That is 1000 Megabytes or one Gigabyte.
That is what I used.
You also see 2 MBs as the least that can be used and 382 MBs as the recommended amount on MY computer.
My computer has 256 MBs of RAM installed.Under Currently Allocated you see 1000 MBs.
I stated early on in the page that a two to one ratio is recommended.
Of course, I used much more than recommended!!!
(About three times as much)Look in the "Total paging file size for all drives" box to see Your computer recommendations.
Different computers will have different recommendations as to how much space to use.
I used the same number in both minimum and maximum so all the extra space would load at once.
If I would ever use up this space I would get a message saying I needed to shut down a program to continue.
So far I have never used up all the space.
If you use a bigger number for the maximum number your computer starts "borrowing" memory when the minimum is used up.
This slows things up.
That is why I used 1000 in each box.
I doubt if I ever use all of it up in a session on my computer.
I have lots of free space on my hard-drive so using a gigabyte doesn't hurt.
I still have 64% free space.See my new System Information here
See my system resources as displayed on the defragmenter here
The information in Virtual Memory is retained on shutdown unless you:
Click on Start\Run & type in regedit & click on OK.
Then go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Modify or add the REG_DWORD entry "ClearPageFileAtShutdown" (without the quotes) and set its value equal to 1.
You must restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
The following 3 screenshots pretty much explain the process:
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