Dealing with the

"Out of Memory" box

January 24th, 2002

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Hello Everybody!

I, obviously, took the month of December off from the newsletter.  I just couldn't figure out how to work it all in.  I hope one day that I can just spend my time writing newsletters, and answering questions from everyone who emails me.  At this time, I am working outside the home with my computer business, and am not always able to get to everything in a timely manner.  You certainly can't accuse me of spamming anyone! :)  Hope this works for all of you.  I do commit to a monthly newsletter, and I am trying to keep you all informed of all the issues that I encounter, and I do think that my subject matter is timely.  So...

Hope you all had wonderful Holidays, and got home safely.  I just want to tell you all how much I appreciate you for subscribing to my little newsletter this year, and I hope that I have helped you in some way with my bits of information.  I also hope that I have answered your questions accurately and in a way that is clear to your understanding.  Anyone can give a textbook answer, but I try to gear information to everyone in a more palatable format.  It's a real challenge to address 600+ people with something they will all be interested in, and I know sometimes that I tell you about things that you may not give a flip about, but you will be exposed to subjects that may become relevant in your life at a later date.  I also address a lot of subjects that are repeated challenges in my business and in my free email computer advice.  So, on that note, let's dive in before this month is over.

Today I want to tell you about a plaguing problem that I have solved with the help of several sources on the internet; such a vast pool of knowledge is out there just waiting for your search.  This gets a little bit technical, but sometimes it gets that way; I will try to make, as always, to make this as easy to understand as I can.

I recently upgraded my computer to an AMD Duron 900 MHz (megahertz) cpu, and added 256 Mb (megabytes=million bytes) of memory (ram=random access memory).  I use a lot of photo editing programs, in edition to FrontPage 2002, and they use a lot of memory if you work with them simultaneously (multi-tasking).  A strange phenomenon started plaguing me, and others that had upgraded their memory to 256 MB or more:  Out of Memory message boxes started popping up for no good reason.  How could this be?  You upgrade the amount of memory, and suddenly your computer is rebelling with this absurd message that you know cannot be true.  So I started searching for answers, after all, I couldn't deliver a computer to someone that was going to have these messages popping up, because it ultimately reflects on me.  Here's what I found at Microsoft's website:

"Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95

Symptoms:

You will get this message:

There is not enough memory available to run this program.  Quit one or more programs, and then try again.

The computer may stop responding (hang) while Windows is starting, or halt and display the following error message:

Insufficient memory to initialize windows. Quit one or more memory-resident programs and restart your computer.

CAUSE
The Windows 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (Vcache) determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts. Vcache then reserves enough memory addresses to permit it to access a cache of the maximum size so that it can increase the cache
to that size if needed.

Rocky Talking here:  This all boils down to the Windows operating system doesn't utilize your memory well, and you have to outfox it. I love to outfox the operating system!  Here's what you do to fix it:

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use the following method:

Click on Start, run, and type in system.ini, and click okay.  This will take you to the System Ini, which is a part of your configuration.  Don't worry if
you don't understand what all that means, just follow these instructions:

Scroll down in the"System-Notepad" that has just popped up, and find [Vcache].  There won't be anything written under it, but we're going to put in a new message.  If you are using 256+ MB of memory here's the message to type in right below [vcache], it should look like this:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=51200
MaxFileCache=51200

128mb would look like this:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=25600
MaxFileCache=25600

Then, click on File (in the top toolbar), save, and then X out of the notepad box.  You're done!  And, it works!

NOTE: The value for these settings are in kilobytes.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in:
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95
*********************************************

This will fix the problem if you have 256mb of Ram or more, and it's advised that you do not exceed 512mb.  I know that some of you couldn't care less
about this, but it is a real solution for this problem, and since Microsoft admits it, I just know many of you will be glad to know how to fix it.  128 MB is really a smooth amount of memory to have, and the very, best total amount for the average home user.  You are able to use most all of your programs, and you won't  get the "out of memory" message box.  So, if you are not receiving this message, and your computer isn't freezing up when you open 2 or more programs, you don't need to fix it with this solution.

I know this was a little complicated, and I'm going to send another, less complicated newsletter about Windows 95b, how to delete programs and files safely, and my most recent experiences with Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0; so if this newsletter doesn't grab you, just wait for the next.  I will be sending it soon.  Thanks again for subscribing and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hope you enjoyed this newsletter.  I'm trying to help, and if you have any subject that you would like me to address, please email me @:

rocky1@rockyreport.com

I appreciate all of you.  Remember that I will have all these monthly issues of my newsletter available at my websites, along with other information:

http://www.rockyreport.com

And

http://www.internetguideandmore.com

Thanks for reading!

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