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WINDOWS ERROR MESSAGES:

"3MB OF FREE VIRTUAL MEMORY" ERROR MESSAGE:

The problem that you are experiencing is one that many Windows users have shared. If a computer that is running Windows contains more than 512 megabytes (for example, 768 megabytes) of physical memory (RAM), you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• You may be unable to open an application (or command prompt) while Windows is running. Attempts to do so may generate the following error message: "There is not enough memory available to run this program. (Quit one or more programs, and then try again.)"
• The computer may stop responding (hang) while Windows is starting, or halt and display the following error message: "Insufficient memory to initialize Windows," or "This application requires at least 3MB of free virtual memory to run."

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem, and although it would seem to be impossible that your system can produce a low memory message, it derives from the way in which the computer uses and releases available resources. When some non-Microsoft programs are being used, the Windows memory manager will not compensate for them, resulting in the memory being filled up. We have had success with a workaround for this situation, by adjusting the virtual memory settings on the computer:

Adjusting Virtual Memory in Windows XP

1. Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop or in your Start menu.
2. Left click on Properties
3. Click on the Advanced tab
4. Under Performance, click the Settings button
5. Click on the Advanced tab
6. Under Virtual Memory, click the Change button
7. Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change (usually C:)
8. Under Paging file size for selected drive, select the Custom size option
9. Type 4000 in the Initial size (MB) text box. Set the maximum size to 4000 as well
10. Click the Set button
11. Click the OK button
12. Close remaining dialogs
13. You may need to restart your system

Adjusting Virtual Memory in VISTA

1. Right click on the Computer icon on your desktop or in your Start menu.
2. Left click on Properties
3. Left click on Advanced System Settings. (If a User Account Control box appears, click Continue.)
4. In the System Properties window, under the Performance section, click the Settings button.
5. Click on the Advanced tab.
6. Under Virtual Memory, click the Change button.
7. Under Drive [Volume Label], click to highlight the drive that contains the paging file you want to change (usually C:).
8. Click to uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives."
9. Click the radio button next to Custom size, then type 4000 into the Initial size (MB) text box AND into the maximum size text box.
10. Click the Set button.
11. Click the OK button.
12. Close remaining dialogs.
13. Restart your system.

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