d/f b/w pysical memory &virtual memory

[arianas]

can anyone tell me the difference between the physical memory and the virtual memory of a computer.
my computer shows something like
total physical memory 128.00 MB
available physical memory 8.24 MB
total virtual memory 2.00 GB
available virtual memory 1.96 GB

does this mean that i can dwonload as much as i want from the internet wihout doing much damage to my computer if i have 1.96 GB memory available.
thanks in advance

[vehelpfulguy]

There are two main types of memory in your computer.

1) Your REAL memory (sometimes called RAM). In your case this seems to be 128Mb.

2) There is also HARD DISK memory.

Every program you INSTALL is stored on your hard disk (Windows, games, Office programs etc). Plus everything you download from the internet is stored on your HARD DISK.

Every program you START UP up on your computer (including Windows, Word, Games, your browser etc) is loaded into REAL (RAM) memory.

Now you say you have 128Mb of REAL memory.

What do you think happens when you start up so many programs that this REAL memory fills up.

How does Windows handle that?

continued...

[vehelpfulguy]

continued....

So if you have started a lot of programs and your REAL memory is full, what is Windows to do ?

Well what it does is create an area of HARD DISK which it calls VIRTUAL MEMORY. In your case this seems to be 2Gb.

This VIRTUAL MEMORY is a sort of overspill. If your REAL memory is full then it uses your hard disk to store some of the programs you have started.

Note that if you dont have much REAL memory (and in your case 128Mb seems very low) then the computer will use this VIRTUAL memory, and that will REALLY slow your computer down.

If possible try to add more memory to your computer (this will reduce the use of virtiual memory).

My guess is your may be using on older version of Windows, such as Windows 95 or 98 or ME, is that the case ?

more.....

[vehelpfulguy]

continued.....

Now you ask the question

"does this mean that i can download as much as i want from the internet without doing much damage to my computer if i have 1.96 GB memory available".

As I have explained, this virtual memory is used by Windows and stored on your hard disk. Because Windows is using it it is NOT available to you.

What is available to you is an "free" space on your hard disk.

You need to find out how big your hard disk is, then find out how much is already being taken up by the programs you have installed plus any other files on the hard disk.

You can find out this as follows:

Go into My Computer and locate the icon for your hard disk.

RIGHT click on the icon and choose Properties.

This should show you some numbers saying how big your disk is and how much room is left.

It will also show a small pie chart, showing how much of your disk is used (in BLUE) and how much is free (in a sort of dark PINK color)

The window will look something like this

http://www.geocities.com/uttoransen1/photo/har d_disk_properties.JPG

You can use any of the "free" space that is left on the disk.