[robdog930]

A box pops up all the time and says virtual memory low, and my D Drive is almost full, it won't let me defrag it cause it sasys it neeeds 15% but only 1% is free, My PC wont let me open d drive says shouldn't be touch it contains files for system recovery, the d drive has 81mb free space my computer is running realy slow taking like 2-3minutes to open programs sometimes could this be why. i have an HP 3.0 intel processor 512mb ddr memory 250gb hard drive xp hom please help

[AuroraDizon]

Usually it says that if you have too many programs running. Run only programs your usingcontrol alt delete - task manager and know whats runningwww.ccleaner.com < you can clear some stuff up there, and if you go to tools and >startup you can see whats listed as your startup itemsthat and go to run > msconfig and look at your startup items to see what automatically is set to run and run only the ones you need to. When your in task manager google your programs running see if you know what they are if you need them etc so you don't stop a process you might need.Good luck.

[robdog930]

Iv'e done all that already but it's still doing it thanks though

[AuroraDizon]

does it do the same thing in safe mode

[phillypa800]

wow! 250GB HD down to 1%? you either have a crap load of mp3 files or video saved. if not, go to your add/remove programs in control panel and review your installed programs. uninstall unnecessary programs that you no longer need or require. if you are unsure about the program you are about to uninstall, click on the support info link and maybe the link will help identify the program in general.another thing just came to mind. if you restored your OS and also backed up your files more than once, this process takes up significant space. it's trial and error deleting duplicate files if you recovered your OS more than once. i wouldn't recommend deleting files manually under explorer then programs unless you feel comfortable and understand what duplicate files to delete.good luck.

[robdog930]

My C:drive has plenty of room it's my D:drive thats full so deleting programs don't help that, is there a way to make the D:Drive larger

[phillypa800]

i was under the assumption that your D: drive was your primary drive. people don't always identify there main drive as C: so help me understand then. is this your secondary hard drive or did you partition your primary hard drive and identified a partition as D?

[robdog930]

i didn't do anything I guess my computer came this way, when I try to open D:drive only an image of a lock shows and says area of hard drive or partition contains files for recovery and wont let me see whats on it, it says the drive is 5.7gb and has 81mb free space, is it ok for that drive to be full or will that slow my computer down.

[phillypa800]

bear with me as i attempt to help you. seems like the previous owner may have set a quota for the mapped D drive. there are several ways to do this. open explorer and right click on D drive. click properties then go to quota tab and check to see if a quota was set for this drive. "Do not limit disk usage" should be active. if not, this may or may not be your solution to expanding the disk space if you only have one drive.check to see if you have a second hard drive mapped as D drive if the above does not help.

[robdog930]

there is no quota tab only general, tools, hardware and sharing, by the way thanks for your help so far

[heatherpurifoy]

Hi!98% of the time, the D partition on an HP/Compaq is the restore partition. It contains the data needed to do a complete System Recovery...in fact, you probably didn't get any recovery CDs with your computer because they rely on this D partition for that function. You don't want to mess with the files on D...and that's probably why it's not letting you. Virtual memory is on your main hard drive...your C drive. You can't defrag the D drive if it's the recovery partition--that's not possible. If you've filled up drive C at 250GB you may have some large music or video files or some programs that are taking up tons of space. How much space is on the C drive? That's where virtual memory is pulled from. If you have the specs (3.0, 512MB RAM, etc.) and your computer is running that slow, you may have either a spyware/virus issue or you may have some failing hardware (usually a hard drive or RAM). I hope this helps some!

[TruexFan]

"A box pops up all the time and says virtual memory low, and my D Drive is almost full"...It sounds like the page file (virtual memory) is on the D drive. Maybe moved there by the previous owner. (I run a static page file on a different drive). If it is, and is dynamic (fluctuates in size), the drive is full and it has no room to expand. To check this possibility...Rt. click My Computer..go to Properties/Advanced Tab/Performance Settings/Advanced Tab/Virtual memory-"change"...this will show you where the page file resides. If this is the case, check back and we can make some changes.

[golfpro]

I see no one helped you with this problem , did you find out what when bad? I have the same thing almost. I get low virtual memory warnings , windows will up it. And my C drive is almost full 20 of 23 GB's. And my web searches and email is slow. Machine worked great for about 2 years and now full. I delete extra temp files, I upgrade , I defrag. I even added memory 760 MB, I have xp pro on it and not many programs , video files. Thanks.

[benjamin89]

First run an antivirus scan and antispyware scan on your hard drive.Because you have 760MB of RAM, it would seem weird that Windows would be complaining about the Virtual Memory, check and make sure that none of your RAM DIMMS have died and when Windows asks you about the Virtual Memory, open Windows Task Manager and make sure there is no program that is hogging the memory. If there is, and it is legitimate, then either increase the physical memory or increase the Virtual Memory. If the program is not legitimate, then you need to upgrade your antivirus and antispyware and scan again.As far as the Virtual Memory, here is how to enlarge the space that windows has set for your computer. In XP Right click on My Computer and s select Properties. Click the Advance Tab. Under Performance, Click Settings. Go to the Advance Tab of the Performance Options window and under the Virtual Memory heading click Change. You should see three options, Custom Size, System Managed, or none. Increase your virtual memory allotment by about 128MB, if windows complains, do it again. Due to your 760MB of RAM you should not need to do this, 512MB of RAM should be fine for normal XP tasks, excluding gaming, so I would look for a virus or spyware.

[golfpro]

I did several anti virus scans and even one in safe mode. I also scanned with adware and windows defender. I went to the vitural memory setting page and not sure what you met by 128 MB by I have paging file set at intial size 800 and maximum size 800. and my c drive has 4549 MB only available of 20MB? also minimum paging file allowed 2MB recommended 1137 MB currently allocated 1630 MB. Visual effects adjust for best performance. Hope this helps. I notice that my page file History is at 1.83GB when yesterday it was about 650MB. When surfing many times I have to refresh to open a site when the bar at the bottom says done but page is not full loaded.

[benjamin89]

[quote name='golfpro'] I have paging file set at intial size 800 and maximum size 800. and my c drive has 4549 MB only available of 20MB? also minimum paging file allowed 2MB recommended 1137 MB currently allocated 1630 MB.You said you have set the Virtual RAM at two sizes, 800MB, and 1630MB. If it is 800MB change it to min 800MB, max 928MB and see what happens, If it is set at 1630MB, then you should have more than enough Virtual Memory.Check that your RAM has not gone bad by right clicking on My Computer and select Properties, then select the General tab, it will tell you your processor speed and the amount of RAM that you have. If it is less than the 760MB that you expected, that could be the reason for the slow down.If you open up Windows Task Manager (right click the task bar and select Task Manager) and click on the Performance Tab, how much memory is being used (the PF Usage)? If the PF usage is larger than 400MB, select the Processes Tab and click the "Mem Usage" to sort the programs by lowest to highest memory usage. Make sure that the "show processes from All users" is selected. What program is using the most memory and how much is it? Are there multiple programs over 60,000K? (Currently Firefox is using 48,780K on my system as a reference)Your slow down could be caused by the fact that your hard drive is very full, try deleting anything that you can do without or buy a larger hard drive (a 80GB hard drive is $45 @ Tiger Direct, a 160GB is around $10 more)One more thing, I have had this happen to me before, my PC was running very slow, but it was just that my antivirus was running a scan in the background. Make sure that nothing like this is the cause of the problem.Hopefully one of these will point you into the right direction.