Virtual memory?

[Laura Freed]

I received a warning saying my system was low on virtual memory and would recongfigure.
Then I was unable to connect to the internet after being connected most of day. I'm broadband and share a connection with another home computer. That connection worked and mine did not. I unplugged router and modem and my system "detected" the new hardware and I could get on the internet.
What, exactly is virtual memory and does the second computer and my computer "share" memory?
Sorry for the stupid question, I'm sure you're wondering how I manage to find the on/off key.
Thanks in advance.
Laura

[Lance Brown]

The two computers do not share the resources you are asking about. They can share other resources, like storage, peripherals, etc. Virtual memory is a way to let the system use more memory then it actually has. If you computer only has 128MB of RAM, you would be very limited in what you could do. So you use some HD storage in lieu of the RAM. If you had 128MB of RAM and the swap space was 128MB, you would have a total of 256MB. To resolve your problem you could do two things. The first would be to increase the swap file size. The second would be to upgrade the RAM in your system. More RAM would make the system faster; a larger swap file would not.

If you want to upgrade your memory, buy it from the manufacturer of the system (the most expensive route) or from a reputable third-party like Crucial or Kingston. They sell memory designed specifically for systems and have a lifetime warranty on their products.