I’m getting an error on my computer telling me I don’t have enough room on my hard drive for the Windows Virtual Memory. What is it and how can I fix the problem?
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What is the Windows Virtual Memory:
The Windows Virtual Memory, or Swap File, is an area of you hard drive that Windows sets aside to store data and programmes on when they are being used, quite often when you don’t have enough memory in your computer.
Even if you have enough memory in your computer, Windows still sets up and uses the Swap file to store data that you have loaded, but aren’t using heavily as a way to save the computers memory for things it needs quick access to.
The Swap File is a way for Windows to run, although slowly, on a computer without enough memory. The reason for the slow speed is due to the speed the computer can access the system memory against the speed the computer can read data off the hard drive.
How to change the settings:
While quite often Windows can look after the settings for the Swap File perfectly well, if your computer is running low on hard disk space, or if you are running a lot of large demanding programmes, like video and audio editing programmes, you might want to modify the settings yourself.
To do this, go to your control panel, usually found in the Start menu and in the settings menu. Then open up the "System Properties"window. Click on the "Advanced" tab, then click on the "Settings" button in the "Performance" rectangle. This will bring up the "Performance Options" window.
Once again click on the "Advanced" tab and then click on the "Change" button in the Virtual Memory rectangle at the buttom of the window. This will bring up the Virtual Memroy window.
If you have more than one hard drive in your computer, you can choose which hard drive the Swap File should go on. Choose which ever drive has the most amount of space free then click on "Set". You should leave the system to manage the size of the Swap File so Windows can increase the size when it needs to.
Once you have set the other hard drive, or if you feel adventurous taken manual control of the size of your Swap File, click on OK to close the Virtual Memory window, then click on OK to close the Performance Options window,” and click on OK to close the System Properties window.
You will have to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.