I am consistantly running out of virtual memory just viewing internet pages. recently updated my memory to 768 mg bytes of ram. What setting would be adviseable to set virtual mem. instead of using the win 98 settings that are automatic.?

You shouldn't be running out of VM with that much RAM and the best settings are probably with Windows managing VM. There is an issue with RAM above 512M. Try adding a line in system.ini to reduce the cache to 512M max (you'll still use all of the RAM). The line you need is this under [vcache] is: MaxFileCache=524288 Note that 524288 = 512M It's OK if it is slightly less, that is the max. DerekW

You are extremely unlikely to see any difference in how well Windows 98SE runs with more than 256mb of ram. If Windows is currently set to allocate virtual memory as it sees fit, that should accomodate any situation. Your problem is probably caused by something else, such as your Windows partition is too full and the virtual swap file can't dynamically (on the fly) size it self big enough to handle some situations, or you have too many things using your Windows "core" memory. If you are getting messages about not enough memory but nothing is said about virtual memory, if Windows is currently set to allocate virtual memory as it sees fit, it is the fixed Windows "core" amount of memory you are using too much of, and that has nothing to do with the amount of ram you have installed after a certain minimum of about 96mb with 98SE, or the amount of virtual memory you have available. You can reduce the amount of the fixed size Windows "core" memory Windows uses many ways - one way is to use MSConfig - Startup tab, and disable most of the Startup programs from running.

I would emphasise that there is a well known issue with W98SE when the RAM is more than 512M. One of the symptoms of this is "out of memory" messages. The fix given in #1 is based on a Microsoft publication and this should definitely be tried as first step. Few people can run W98SE without that line in system.ini if they have much more than 512M of RAM installed. DerekW

Sure, it is a widely known issue... (elaborate speechifyin' not withstanding) Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie!'... till you can find a rock

As an aside there seems to be a widely held belief that W98SE can't possibly use more than, say, 256M of RAM (esimates vary). The true answer varies with your computer usage. Windows will gobble up all it can use for starters and other programs can also use quite a bit of RAM. I have 512M of RAM and have seen situations where all that has been used plus 140M VM as well. Not often, true, but it certainly does happen and I therefore have no regrets about putting the RAM up to 512M so it can handle those situations with ease. [I keep background programs down to the minimum] DerekW

Hi, You got some good suggestions here. Virtual Mem is actually Hard Drive space used when the system runs out of real memory. Let Windows handle the Virtual Mem. Make sure the Hard Drive has 20 to 25 % free space. And yes, more real memory can help. It runs many times faster than VM. Good Luck, Jim