Does your Windows 10 installation feel like it slows downwardly over time? Y'all're non imagining it. Every bit the hardware requirements for popular apps increase, your aging hardware suffers.

Ofttimes in that location is a simple culprit: depression memory. If yous don't have enough arrangement retentiveness, your system will wearisome to a crawl when you effort to run multiple resource-intensive programs.

Here'south how y'all fix your Windows 10 virtual retentiveness size to make those issues disappear.

What Is Virtual Memory?

Your computer has 2 types of retentivity: A hard bulldoze or solid-country bulldoze and RAM.

Your difficult bulldoze is where your operating organization lives, every bit well every bit your photos, music, games, documents, and otherwise. Your RAM stores program-specific data. It is much faster simply also more volatile, interim as a working storage area for the programs and files you have open.

And so, what is virtual retentiveness?

Well, if yous use all the RAM available to your system, information technology will employ virtual memory—also known equally a bandy or paging file—to provide a temporary expansion. Your system'south virtual memory does this using part of your hard-drive memory to aggrandize your RAM effectively. So, this virtual memory is extremely useful. It allows your system to handle more data for more programs than previously bachelor.

However, your hard drive retentiveness (and even a faster solid-state drive) is much slower than your superfast RAM, and then your performance can suffer.

When your memory runs low, the paging file comes into play. Some data stored in the RAM will move to the paging file, providing additional infinite for high-speed retentivity functions.

Running Low on Virtual Memory

If your virtual memory runs low, you volition encounter the post-obit message:

Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file. During this procedure, memory requests for some applications may exist denied. For more information, run across help.

Manually increasing the size of your paging file will alleviate this bulletin, as per the error message. Windows sets the initial virtual retentivity paging file equal to the amount of installed RAM. The paging file is a minimum of 1.5 times and a maximum of iii times your physical RAM.

You can calculate your paging file size using the post-obit system. For example, a system with 4GB RAM would accept a minimum of 1024x4x1.5=six,144MB [1GB RAM x Installed RAM ten Minimum]. Whereas the maximum is 1024x4x3=12,288MB [1GB RAM x Installed RAM ten Maximum].

Still, 12GB for a paging file is enormous. I would not recommend using the upper limit. Why? Because once your paging file increases over a certain size, your system will become unstable. In that, the paging file is a temporary fix.

How to Increment Your Virtual Memory

The natural question to enquire is, "How much virtual retention should I fix?"

Hither's how you increase the size of the paging file to get rid of the virtual memory error message.

  1. Head to Control Panel > System and Security > System.
  2. Select Advanced System Settings to open your Arrangement Properties. Now open the Advancedtab.
  3. Under Performance, select Settings. Open up the Advanced tab. Nether Virtual retentivity, select Alter. Hither are your Virtual Retention options.
system properties advanced tab

The default option is to Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. Uncheck this to enable the currently greyed out section below. Select the drive you want to edit the paging file size for. Usually, this is your C: drive.

virtual memory paging file

Now, select Custom size. Set up the Maximum size you desire for your paging file, following the recommended size for your system. Remember, Windows restricts the paging file size to three times the size of your installed RAM. This is to ensure system stability. Set the Initial size to the Currently allocated size (found below).

virtual memory set custom size

Click Set followed by OK. You lot take successfully increased your system's virtual retention size. +1 knowledge for the solar day!

Delight note that Windows doesn't display a warning for paging file (virtual memory) size increases, but system alerts are shown for decreases. A sudden decrease could crusade arrangement damage.

Other Ways to Increment Your Virtual Memory

If you notice that your system however runs slowly following the paging file size aligning, you lot must consider upgrading your RAM.

Upgrading your RAM is the only way you can increase your virtual retentiveness, past increasing the amount of overall retentivity available to the system. In that, you will alleviate the virtual memory issue during the procedure and could see a heave to your system speed, too.

There are countless tutorials to help yous through this task, both text and video, and many can be institute specifically for your device. A dandy place to outset figuring out uniform RAM is PC Part Picker.

What Are the Best Virtual Memory Settings?

I'm inclined to leave my virtual memory settings alone. Windows 10 manages your physical memory and your virtual memory, forth with it. If you keep hitting the paging file memory limit, y'all should consider upgrading your RAM. It volition brand a globe of deviation, especially for older systems.

A Quick and Dirty Guide to RAM: What You Need to Know

Read Next

Nearly The Author

Gavin Phillips (1047 Articles Published)

Gavin is the Junior Editor for Technology Explained, a regular contributor to the Actually Useful Podcast, and a frequent product reviewer. He has a degree in Contemporary Writing pillaged from the hills of Devon, and more than a decade of professional writing experience. He enjoys copious amounts of tea, board games, and football.

More From Gavin Phillips