Do you what to do when the message “your virtual memory is low” is displayed on your Windows XP computer? Most people do now know what to do when they get this message on their PCs. Virtual memory can be complicated as it is what allow your larger programs and applications to use RAM more efficiently and run smoother.

 The process to resolve this message is to do the following:

Open the Control Panel of your computer and click on Performance & Maintenance. Next you will go to the Advanced Tab of the System tab. Next navigate to Performance then click on Setting then Advance Tab. Here is where you will find the Virtual memory setting. Click “Change” then click on the drive that you wish to change. You will want to choose the drive that uses the paging file size that needs changing this is normally the C: drive. The amount reserved Virtual memory is the Paging File Size. Choose “Custom Size” and enter the amount of maximum and initial virtual memory you want reserved. If you want a consistent speed maintained then you will want these two settings to be the same. When you are finished click “OK” and restart your computer.

In order for virtual memory to work well you do need to be sure that you have adequate amount of hard drive space available on your computer. Be sure to remove any unnecessary programs, the recycle bin and any temporary internet and Windows files if you need to free up more space.

There are many things that can impact how fast your computer boots up. These range from the number of fonts you have installed to the icons on your desktop.

Take a look at the Start Menu on your PC. There are entries for “My Recent Documents”. This is an area that saves documents that you have recently opened and used. Having this feature allows you quick access to items that you have recently used. Over time this list might become quite long. When this occurs it can slow down the boot process of your PC. These entries are stored in “%USERPROFILE%\Recent”. You can type this at the Run prompt in order to manage these files. Another option is to have this list managed automatically when you log off your system. But this is an edit you will need to make to the system registry. The Registry Key that you need to adjust is: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer”. You can create the entry “DWORD” naming it “ClearRecentDocsOnExit” with a value of 1. But if your are not completely comfortable with editing the Registry then you should manage the files manually.

If your system is part of a network or you have ever connected it to a network there may be invalid network connections that still attempt to be found when your computer boots up. Disconnecting any mapped drives and network connections that are no longer in use will help to improve your computers boot time.

Today most of the homes have computers installed for personal or official use.  Sometimes it so happens that you have fallen in such a situation and you are unsuccessful in booting the operation system when you have switched on the power plug of your computer. This occurs due to the failure of booting the Microsoft Windows XP. You have repeatedly switched on and off the computer but to no avail. So now we are going to give you three simple and easy solutions as to how to fix the common Windows XP. You have to just follow our instructions without requiring any help or guidance from any computer expert or technician.

1. Use Windows Starting Disk to fix Windows XP start up Problem:
In case the start up problem is caused due to the broken booting record of activity partition or the files are damaged for starting the operation system, a start up disk can solve the problem.

To create a Windows XP boot disk:

You have to create a MS-DOS start up disk while trying to format a floppy disk as noted below:

*Diskette has to be placed in the Computer
*Open My Computer and right click A drive and click format
* In the format Window, check and create an MS-DOS starting disk
* Click start

When the diskette is created then do the following, so that you will be able to boot the diskette.

1. Place the diskette into the writ protect mode.
2. Then insert the diskette into the computer for the boot processing to begin.
3. Answer the queries as the computer is booting.
4. Tap at A> and take the necessary action depending on the situation of the computer.
5. Now re-start your computer once more

2. Use the last Know Good Configuration to boot the operation system which is the usual method to enter Windows XP. This is an option for the Windows to start up as the latest system setting is used for working correctly. Important settings will be saved in the registry automatically every time. You then switch of the computer and the Windows will shut down. Now all the previous modifications and changes which you had made before
Stands cancelled on the registry key code “Current Control set” which is being used to define hardware and drivers settings. The reason for using the Last Know Good Configuration is to change the current registry key by the former and your operating system will now work normally with the correct registry. Now you have to follow the system given below:
Press Ctrl+Alt+delete to restart your computer. When the words will appear on your screen “Please select the operating systems to start” Then press and hold the F5 key prior to the Windows logo appears. The arrow should be used to highlight Last Known Good Configuration on the advanced Boot Option and press ENTER

3. Use System restores to fix windows XP start up problem:

“Systems Restore” is another tool which can start the windows system. It helps PC users to recover system files, registrar keys, installed programmes etc. to the previous state in the event of failure and also checks if there is any changes in any important systems. It also restore if it finds any changes which has happened din every 24 hours automatically.

This is how you use the restore system:

Press Ctrl+Alt+delete to restart your PC. When the words appear on your screen “Please select the operating system to start”. The Press and hold the F8 Key before the Windows logo appears. Then on the advanced boot option screen, select the arrow key “Safe Mode’ and Press the “Start” button after entering the “Safe Mode” to choose all programmes, accessories, systems tools menu and then click Systems Restore. Then to start system restore click “Next”

Next to slowness issues related to shutdown plague Windows users the most. Sometimes it is even difficult to just shutdown and turn off your computer. This causes a lot of frustration besides not being the optimal use of your time.

There are ways that you can optimize the performance of your computer and resolve many of your computers shutdown issues.

The number one reason for problems when trying to shutdown your computer is that too many programs are running. If you have opened up a lot of programs then it may take a long time for your computer to shut down if it even shuts down at all. First be sure to close down any software program before attempting to shutdown your PC. This may actually resolve all your issues but if it does not then there are still things you can do.

The Msconfig utility is a good tool to see what all is running on your computer that you may not even be aware of. You can turn off or on any of the programs quite easily here.

Advanced Power Management or APM may also be a cause of your computer not being able to shut down. You can turn off this utility in the Power Options in Control Panel. You can try turning it off and if this resolves your particular shutdown issues then you do not have to look any further.

You can also change/check your CMOS settings. If a setting is incorrect here it can cause your system to be unable to shut down.

There are some simple steps that you can take to speed up your computer. Basic routing maintenance is recommended and will help ensure that your computer performs well for you and also that you are protected when you are surfing the internet.

Preventing spyware from infecting your system is optimal but it is imperative to remove it if it gets on your computer. Spyware will run in the background and can cause computer slowness as well as system crashes. But that is not all it will do. Spyware is a threat to your personal information. Live OneCare is a scan the Windows provides for free that will fight and protect your computer from getting infected with spyware as well as viruses.

It is important to download the free Microsoft Security Essentials to protect your system from future infections from adware, spyware and viruses. This removal tool will automatically update with the latest versions ensuring that your system is protected in the future.

Also you can use the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal tools to check your system for specific, malicious programs including Mydoom, Sasser, Blaster and others.

Malicious programs are the biggest threat to both your personal information as well as the performance of your computer. The better protection you have the less you will have to worry about these concerns. Spend a little time and money investing in protecting yourself from these threats and you will be glad you did.

There are many reasons why your computer might be running slow. It could be that your hard drive is getting too full. You could have a virus, spyware or adware installed on it that is causing it to be slow. If you use a lot of graphic intensive programs like games and photo editing programs you may need a better graphics card. So improving the speed of your PC may not be confined to just one thing or another. But there are some standard things that will make most computers run better.

The first thing you need to do is to see how much space you have on your hard drive. If it is almost full you need to get rid of some stuff. Try to find any duplicate files that are on your disk drive and remove them. If there are any programs you no longer use then you need to un-install them.

After removing all unnecessary files and programs you can run the Disk Defragmenter tool that Microsoft provides. This will re-organize your hard drive placing everything back together in one area of the drive. When your files are organized in this way it is easier for your computer to find them and it will run faster.

It is possible that you need to add some RAM or upgrade your computers graphics card. If either of these is insufficient it will cause your computer to perform poorly.

There is not one sure method that will solve all computers slowness issues but if you take a hard look at your specific issues and follow some basic routine maintenance steps you can get your computer running faster again.

If your slow computer is getting down? There are five simple things you can do that will help improve how well your computer performs. The first thing to do would be to check for and remove any virus, spyware or adware. Tale tale signs of having some of these malware programs on your computer would be if you receive a pop-up every time you go to a web page or the speed navigating to pages is increasingly slower and slower.

If this is the case then you definitely want to install some tools that will help you find, remove and then prevent future infestations of these malware issues. A couple great tools include Ad-Aware from LavaSoft and Spybot S&D. Either of these programs should get rid of most of these issues.

Installing a really good virus scanner is also recommended. These are not free but preventing an infection that can compromise both your computer and your personal information is priceless. The big players in anti viral software include Norton, Symantec and MacAfee.

Running the disk defragmentation utility is also another tool you should use at least monthly. Other times to run it would be when you add or remove any software programs or very large files from your computers hard drive.

You might not think about this but the environment that your computer is in can also affect its performance. If your computer is very dusty on in an area with poor ventilation it can make it work harder.

There are some simple things you can do to help improve the speed you experience when you are surfing the internet. The first thing you should do especially if you download a lot of stuff is to change the default limit of concurrent downloads. You can have up to sixteen files downloading at the same time from the same server if you want to. You make the change to the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

Add a new value called DWORD then add an entry named MaxConnectionsPerServer and set the value to sixteen.

Another thing you can do to improve the performance of your computer is to disable the indexing service. Indexing consumes a lot of system resources and this can have a negative effect on your computers performance. When you disable indexing you will not only free up space on your hard drive you can improve the performance of it as well. You can disable indexing in the Services tab of the Administrative Tools in the Control panel. Just right click and choose “Disable”.

The default setting for cache in Internet Explorer is set to hold a large amount of cache. This can take up precious space on your hard drive as well as causing your disk to be fragmented. When you lower the maximum size of your internet cache to be one hundred-twenty eight it provides for the optimal level helping to improve your systems performance as well as preventing any other issues.

When you look at the screen of your computer think that everything that is displayed there is stored somewhere on the computers hard drive or in the video buffer of the memory. Each spot on the display is a spot of memory and is being constantly refreshed. So the more colors your display uses the more information is required to be stored in the video buffer.

You can change the number of colors that your display used to lower the amount of information that is required to be stored in the video buffer. If you reduce the color display by fifty percent it will take half as long for your display to update and this will improve the performance of your computer.

You do not really need the highest resolution of colors unless you are a high end gamer or a graphic designer. The good thing about this is you can change the settings and use it for a while but if you ever want to you can change it back to the full display settings.

It is easy to change this setting by right clicking somewhere in the desktop and clicking on Properties and going into the Settings tab. Under Color Quality is where you can adjust your computers setting from “Highest” or “Millions of Colors” to “Thousands of Colors” or “Medium”.

Sometimes you just have to update some of the hardware components in your computer to get it to run faster. If you do not have enough memory you can always add more RAM. Even if you do not have any open slots available in your computer there may be a solution for you as well. RAM is a cheap and easy way to get your computer to run a little faster. There are configuration tools that will help you determine if you would actually benefit from adding more RAM. Sometimes you may have to replace the RAM within your computer with more powerful RAM.

Replacing the video card in your computer is another hardware update that might affect how your computer performs. This is especially true if you use very graphic intensive programs. If you play games or use photo editing programs such as Photoshop and your computer came with a stock video card more than likely you will benefit from updating it. Video cards are not as cheap as RAM to install or replace and that is why stock computers come with inferior cards it is to keep the initial cost of the machine cheaper. But if you are serious about speed and play games or use other graphic intensive programs if you did not invest in a quality computer with a quality video card now is the time to replace it.

These are the two hardware upgrades that can have the biggest impact on how fast your computer performs.