It can be one of the most annoying problems with Windows – you’re happily browsing the web or working on a document and suddenly up pops the “low-memory warning”.
Find out what causes this problem and how to fix it.
Low memory warnings happen when Windows has run out of space to put the data it needs to store when you’re running different applications. This can be either in the RAM modules in your computer, or also on the hard disk, when the free RAM has been filled up.
For proper and smooth functioning of Windows 7 you should need at least 30% to 40% Memory as Free given that you are using or running other applications too. Tips or Tweaks to Reduce Windows 7 Memory Usage. Here are important tweaks and optimization that you can do in your Windows 7 to make it consume much lesser RAM / Memory. Increase Internal Memory in Windows 10, Windows 7 & 8 – Clean up System Junk December 11, 2016 October 22, 2018 Raza Ali Kazmi Sorcim Articles Replacing the internal memory (RAM or hard drive) is a tedious job.
Typically if you’re getting these warnings, something has gone wrong with the paging file that uses your hard disk for extra storage.
You can check this by opening the Performance tab of Windows Task Manager (press the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys simultaneously).
The page file is almost full – not good!
If your page file usage is almost full, and the Free memory is low, then Windows is running out of memory for your running applications.
This can cause things like web browser crashes, other program crashes etc.
How to fix it
- First, check that you have enough free disk space.You can usually do this by clicking on Computer from the Start Menu, and then looking at the free space value to the right of Local Disk.
If this is lower than a few hundred MB, then you need to free up space on the disk by deleting files, and then emptying the recycle bin. This will free up disk space for the paging file to use. - Your page file may be switched to manual instead of automatic control, and set to too low a value.
Check this by right-clicking on Computer and selecting Properties. You should get the system panel displayed similar to this: - Click on “Advanced system settings”, then the Settings tab under Performance at the top.
- The “Performance options” page will open. Click on the “Advanced” tab.
- Now click on the “Change” button under “Virtual memory”.
- You will see the Virtual Memory options page. This controls the size of the paging file.
Usually you can tick the top checkbox for “Automatically manage paging size.” and Windows will handle everything itself, as long as you have enough free disk space.
However, you can keep this checked off if you have reasonable values set here.
What are reasonable values here?
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Paging File – Manual settings
Most of the time, you won’t need to use manual settings for virtual memory. However, there are some outlying cases where it might be useful.
One of these might be where you have a limited amount of disk space, and don’t want the available free space to be increasing and decreasing all the time as Windows adjusts the size of the paging file.
Considerations when modifing virtual memory settings:
- Unless you have a lot of memory (at least 8GB) and are using a 64-bit version of Windows, then you should have at least one disk set to use a paging file. This will typically be the C: drive.
- You don’t necessarily need to set a paging file on more than one disk, although it’s possible.
- Recommended minimum size is 512MB for compatibility reasons.
- The Maximum size is a matter of preference, and depends on how many applications you run at the same time, but it’s probably better to set it to at least 4096MB (4 Gig) or higher.
- Using both a SSD and standard hard drive in the same computer?
Moving the paging file to the SSD disk can greatly speed up your system, since page file access can be one of the most frequent reasons for read and write usage of the disk.
This is especially true if you don’t have that much physical RAM installed, or your disk light is frequently lighting up due to disk page file swapping.
There was some concern with earlier SSDs that putting such a highly-used file on the SSD would lead to a shorter lifespan for the solid-state disk, however this is unlikely to be a concern for newer SSDs and the performance boost could be significant.
Has it worked?
Once you’ve either freed up disk space or adjusted your page file settings, you can start the Task Manager again to see what’s happening.
Note that you might have to reboot your computer before doing this if you have changed the virtual memory settings.
Try to start using something that uses up memory, such as a web browser session with a lot of open tabs. If it appears that your page file space is not being exhausted, and you don’t get any popup error messages, then the problem is solved.
To prevent low-memory problems reoccurring, make sure to try to free up enough space on your disk if it’s running low.
Like every operating system, Windows also stores different kinds of cache files on the hard drive. In simple words, cache files are temporary files that are stored on the memory to make it easier for you to access frequently used data. The cache data utilize lots of hard drive space of your computer. Deleting cache files is necessary for the smooth running of the system. Cache memory is responsible for various kinds of computer problems, including slow processing speed, slow startup, lag or hang, application responding, and many others. If you don't know how to clear memory cache on your Windows computer then, the solution to your problem is here. Here in this post, we will talk about How to clear memory cache on Windows computers.
5 Ways to Clear Memory Cache on Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP
It is necessary to clear cache the memory to fully utilize your CPU power. Cache memory causes lots of problems by occupying a huge amount of computer RAM (Random Access Memory). That's why it is always recommended to clearing memory cache from your Windows computer to get optimum performance. Cache memory is something that is really useful to give you better performance. It helps the application to load faster as compared to load the app without cache data. Here below are some methods that will help you to clear memory cache in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/ and XP.
Method 1: Create Clear Memory Cache Shortcut
This is one of the easiest solutions to clear memory cache on the Windows operating system. This method is completely free; you don't have to install any third-party paid tool to clear the memory cache. Below are some steps to clear memory cache on Windows.
Step 1: First of all, you have to turn on your computer and right-click on the desktop.
Step 2: Here, you will have a couple of options. Click on 'Shortcut' under the New option.
Step 3: Create a Shortcut wizard will appear, you have to click Browse to locate the directory. Or you can simply type '%windir%system32rundll32.exe advapi32.dll, ProcessIdleTasks' without quotes on the text field of 'Type the location of the item'.
Step 4: Once the above process is completed, you have to click on 'Next' button to proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Now, you have to type a name for this shortcut. Here, we are typing 'Clear Unused RAM' and hit on the 'Next' button.
Once the shortcut is created, switch to the desktop and double-click on the shortcut to clear memory cache on Windows.
Method 2: Clear General Cache
Disk Cleanup is an integrated feature of Microsoft Windows that enables the user to clean unwanted files. Getting engaging with this feature, you can remove temporary files, unwanted files, preview windows installation files, and much more. You just have to choose the disk and start the deleting process. Here below are steps to clear the memory cache using disk cleanup.
Step 1: At the first step, you have to click on the 'Start' button and type 'disk cleanup' in the search field and hit the 'Enter' button.
Step 2: Now, Disk Cleanup: Drive Selection dialog box will appear. You have to choose the drive from where you would like to clear the memory cache.
Step 3: Now, click on the 'OK' button. It will start the scanning process and shows you how much space is occupied by the cache.
Step 4: You have to tick the checkbox which you would like to clean. If you want to clean system files then, you can click on the 'Clean up system files' otherwise, hit on the 'OK' button at the bottom of the window.
Step 5: Once the above process is completed, you can click on 'Delete Files' if prompted. It will start deleting cache files from places including recycling bin, Thumbnails, and many other places.
Method 3: Clear App Data File to Clear Memory Cache
Step 1: At the first step, you have to click on the 'Start' button or hit on the 'Windows' key and click on 'Computers' to open My Computer.
Step 2: My Computer window will appear; if you don't see My Computer, then manually type 'My Computer' in the start and hit the 'Enter' button.
Step 3: Once the above process is completed, you have to click on the 'Organize' tab in the top left corner of the window.
Step 4: Then, choose 'Folder and search options' under the organize drop-down menu.
Step 5: a Folder options dialog box will appear with 3 tabs; click on the view tab.
Step 6: Now, you have to click on 'Show Hidden files, folder, and drives' radio button under the 'Hidden files and folders'.
Step 7: Click on the 'OK' button at the button of the window.
Step 8: Once the above process is successfully completed, you have to open the hard disk where windows are installed.
Step 9: Now, you have to open the 'Users' folder by double-clicking on it. Then, click on the folder with an administrator account.
Step 10: You have to locate the 'AppData' folder and open it by double-clicking and open the 'Local' folder.
Step 11: Now, you have to select the 'Temp' folder and open it.
Step 12: Remove the read-only permissions from the Temp folder.
Step 13: You have to select all files that are placed in the Temp folder. You can press 'Ctrl' + 'A' to select all files.
Step 14: Once the files are selected, Press 'Shift' + 'Delete' button simultaneously to permanently delete all temp files.
Method 4: Delete Internet Explorer Files to Clear Memory Cache
Step 1: First of all, click on the 'Start' button and type 'Internet Explorer' in the text field and press the 'Enter' button.
Step 2: Internet Explorer web browser window will appear, you have to click on the 'General' tab at the top of the window.
Step 3: Now, you have to click on the 'Settings' under the browsing history section.
Step 4: Then, click on 'View files' at the screen's bottom right side. Once the above process is completed, a new window will appear with all cached files created by Internet Explorer.
Step 5: You have to press the 'Ctrl' + 'A' button simultaneously to select all the cache files.
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Step 6: Now, you have to press the 'Shift' + 'Delete' button to remove all cached files permanently.
Method 5: Clear the DNS Cache
Step 1: Initially, you have to click on the 'Start' menu by clicking on the Start button at the bottom left of the screen.
Step 2: Now, type command prompt and hit the Enter button to launch. You can also open a command prompt by right click on Command prompt and run as administrator.
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Step 3: On the command prompt, you have to type 'ipconfig /flushdns' without quotes and press the'Enter' button.
Step 4: You have to wait for a couple of seconds and be notified when completed. Once it is successfully completed, you have to restart your computer to makes changes.
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