Hack #34. Manage the Paging File
Windows can get confused about what memory is and how it uses it. Giving Windows some guidance will keep things running smoothly.
Ever encounter an "out of memory error"? Been advised by an on-screen dialog message to "close some applications to free up memory"? These errors are usually not about adding or removing memory, but about how the operating system uses the memory available. Windows and some applications can present any number of "out of memory" error messages, such as:
"There is not enough memory available to run this program. Quit one or more programs, and then try again."
"Insufficient memory to initialize windows. Quit one or more memory-resident programs or remove unnecessary utilities from your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files, and restart your computer."
"The system is dangerously low on resources. Would you like to terminate the following application..."
Microsoft Windows 3.x-95/98/Me manage many types of memory—mostly RAM, but within and beyond the obvious system RAM, other resources that store data while the operating system and applications do their things.
There are three causes for "out of memory" conditions under Windows 9.x: truly having too little RAM to support the operating system, having too little free disk space for the operating system to be able to swap memory contents to the swapfile on a hard drive, or forcing the swapfile size into too small and overcrowded small segments of memory called "system resources."
A solution ...