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Removing the 'Low Virtual Memory' message at start up

DivideBYZero

DivideBYZero

Lifer
I have a gig of RAM, and after boot I'm only using around 200Mb RAM. I don't need a swap file, so it's disabled, but this warning message keeps showing up at login time. I don't get it any other time, just at boot/login.

Anyone know how to prevent this over and beyond what I have already done, which is essentially turned off page file use altogether?

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
Turn on the swap file and let Windows manage it?
Click to expand...

I don't need it. It lowers performance, increases I/O and reduces battery life. That is not a solution.
Click to expand...

That's a common misconception. Back in the days of 95/98, overloading your system with RAM and disabling the swap file offered a performance boost but not these days. Windows is designed to work with a swap file, it's written around that premise.

A swap file is now a positive thing. All the modern O/S's make use of the swap file in ADDITION to your system RAM, so if you can move 400 mb/s with RAM and 32 mb/s with your HD, that's more than just your RAM alone obviously. Windows will prioritize your physical memory if you are doing heavy disk I/O access, but it likes to have the swap file for spill over.

The best advice is not to disable it altogether, but to optimize it. Enable it, but set it low and at the same maximum/minimum size. This way, Windows won't constantly resize it. Lastly, keep it defragged and you will actually gain performance.

Battery life? I don't think anyone ever recommended disabling a swap file to save battery power but I could be wrong...
If power is a concern, you should definitely look elsewhere to save juice, not the way Windows manages its memory.

BTW, 1 gig is very low to want to disable the paging file altogether anyway. Unless you have no virus scanners, instant messagers, no firefox using up 200 megs for three tabs, use of classic GUI with no effects, and a bunch of disabled windows services, 1 gig won't cut it. The real way to get rid of this alert would probably be to go buy some memory, a decent stick is cheaper than a tank of gas these days (which is already pretty damn cheap.)

...to actually answer your question though...I have no idea how to get rid of that alert.
-Navid.
 
OK, you may have a point. This is an Acer Aspire One netbook and the OS build is specific to this platform. It is an extremely cut down version of XP Pro, it runs great with the 1Gb as mentioned above (200Mb with all services loaded inc VScan). With a bloated FF build(I love addons...) and 6-7 tabs it runs to ~340Mb, still very easily within the 1Gb limit.

I'll give it a small PF for now and see how it goes, I'm just not a fan of an OS swapping for the hell of it when I have plenty of free RAM. The build was also made to reduce SSD cycles, but I have an HDD Netbook.

Thanks for your input!
 
I'd also up the memory to 1.5GB (maximum for the Aspire One). Crucial has a compatible 1 GB memory module for $13 online.
 
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
Turn on the swap file and let Windows manage it?
Click to expand...

I don't need it. It lowers performance, increases I/O and reduces battery life. That is not a solution.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.....OK if you say so...........😕
 
Originally posted by: reallyscrued
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
Turn on the swap file and let Windows manage it?
Click to expand...

I don't need it. It lowers performance, increases I/O and reduces battery life. That is not a solution.
Click to expand...
The best advice is not to disable it altogether, but to optimize it. Enable it, but set it low and at the same maximum/minimum size.
Click to expand...

No, the best advice is to let Windows manage it.

This way, Windows won't constantly resize it.
Click to expand...

If this is happening, you need more RAM.

Lastly, keep it defragged and you will actually gain performance.
Click to expand...

Why defrag a file which will change and is randomly accessed?
 
If this is happening, you need more RAM.
Click to expand...

...his question was how to make the alert go away. If he wanted to just get more RAM, do you think he would have even posted? You guys love being smart alecks on this forum, don't you?

In my experience, letting Windows mange memory when you are low on physical RAM is worse than if you set a medium to small static size. And by defrag "it", I meant the hard drive itself, not the swap file. Sorry for being ambiguous.

...Although I wonder if defragging the paging file will do anything for performance? There might be some files that stay the same... I remember some programs that allowed you to move the page file to a different physical part of the HDD where it got better read/write performance, I think maybe diskeeper, I use O&O now though.
 
...his question was how to make the alert go away. If he wanted to just get more RAM, do you think he would have even posted? You guys love being smart alecks on this forum, don't you?
Click to expand...

No, we just like giving the correct answer. Just hiding the alert isn't the correct answer.

In my experience, letting Windows mange memory when you are low on physical RAM is worse than if you set a medium to small static size
Click to expand...

And you've done tests and have numbers to back that up?

...Although I wonder if defragging the paging file will do anything for performance?
Click to expand...

No, the pagefile is accessed pretty much randomly.

I remember some programs that allowed you to move the page file to a different physical part of the HDD where it got better read/write performance, I think maybe diskeeper, I use O&O now though.
Click to expand...

Snake oil. They just wanted another feature to add to their bullet points, any percieved affect would just be a placebo.
 
Originally posted by: reallyscrued
If he wanted to just get more RAM, do you think he would have even posted? You guys love being smart alecks on this forum, don't you?
Click to expand...
Huh? In your first post in this thread, you told the guy to get more RAM:

"The real way to get rid of this alert would probably be to go buy some memory, a decent stick is cheaper than a tank of gas these days (which is already pretty damn cheap.)"

I'd also noted that it wouldn't hurt to add more memory. But he Aspire One is limited to 1.5 GB. But, hey, that's still 50% more than he has now. And XP can obviously run just fine with 1 GB of memory. Millions of people have been running XP for years with less memory than that.
 
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
And XP can obviously run just fine with 1 GB of memory. Millions of people have been running XP for years with less memory than that.
Click to expand...

It wasn't that long ago 1gb was a highend enthusiasts machine. When I switched to C2D some games were *just* starting to exceed the 1gb usage limit(Games+O/S and everything else added). Now everybody acts like it isn't good enough.

Routine tasks haven't gotten that much more demanding in 2 years. 1gb is still good for most users, especially for a netbook that isn't made to be a powerhouse. It seems inflation affects more than currency...

 
Disabling the Event Log service will get rid of the message. But your PC will probably be a bit quirky with that off....
 
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