Virtual memory, or virtual storage, is a memory management technique employed by computer systems to optimize the utilization of physical storage. In simple terms, when the computer is low on physical memory (RAM) it temporarily uses space on the hard drive or solid state drive to store and swap information back and forth from the physical RAM as needed, in order to keep the computer working as efficiently as possible.
Without virtual memory, the computer would be unable to keep running once its RAM is full.
To set up your system to use virtual memory in the best way, follow these steps:
- Go to the Start Menu and select Settings.
- Type "performance" into the Search bar and choose Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.
- In the Performance Options window, click the Advanced tab. Look for the "Virtual memory" section at the bottom, then click Change
- Check that the option Automatically manage paging file size for all drives checkbox in this window is checked
- Make sure you have enough space on your disk to receive the currently allocated value displayed below
- If the Checkbox is unchecked, check it and let your system handle the paging size.
- Finally, restart your PC to apply the changes.