Your PC consists of many components that work together to deliver results for the given tasks. The important components include the CPU, the graphics unit, storage drive, and most importantly the RAM. The RAM, also known as memory, is one of the most fundamental parts of a computer. Every app or service that is running in your computer is first loaded into your RAM before it could be processed further.
The RAM on your computer has a dedicated storage capacity within which it can handle the programs and tasks efficiently. The RAM capacity is mentioned in GB similar to storage capacity and can be around 4 to 8 GB for older systems and up to 64 GB on newer, more powerful computers.
However, the RAM capacity is still limited and if a certain program occupies most of it, your PC will give you a low memory warning. If you are getting a “Your computer is low on memory” warning or error, you will not be able to launch heavy programs.
In most cases, your computer will struggle while trying to open a few extra tabs on google chrome. Today, we will find out exactly why this error occurs in computers and how you can fix it by following a few easy steps.
How To Fix Your Computer Is Low On Memory Warning
There can be many reasons for the low memory warning to appear on your computer. First of all, the message indicates that one or more apps on your computer are utilizing a large share of your RAM. Thus, there is not enough memory available for new processes to start.
In most cases, it is not a virus and can be fixed easily by taking a few necessary steps. Before you try out the solutions given here, you can close heavy programs and see if the problem persists. If the error disappears after closing a certain program, it means that your computer or laptop is not capable of handling that certain program.
But, if you have sufficient memory capacity and are still facing the error, check the solutions provided below.
Check Storage Capacity
Memory related errors can occur either because of insufficient space available on your RAM or your storage drive. While a program is running, it is constantly making changes to its core files that change the size of the file. Especially while playing games, there are compressed game files that are unpacked as you proceed further or access a certain level or map in the game.
If the destination drive of the game or program does not have any space left, the program will simply crash while providing you with the error. This will happen because of the lack of storage capacity and the program being unable to create the necessary files or make changes in the existing ones. To solve this, simply make sure that your drive has considerable empty space available before running the program. For that, you can either delete unnecessary files from the current drive or simply move the program to another partition of your hard drive.
Run A Full System Scan
In recent years, various new types of viruses have been developed that affect your system and can cause similar problems. One such type of virus is a Cryptojacking virus that utilizes your computer’s resources to mine cryptocurrency. As you may already know, mining cryptocurrency is a very difficult task and requires significant power. Also, it stays active in the background as long as your system is online.
Therefore, if you are noticing an unusual increase in resources utilization in your computer, you might be a victim of a cryptojacking virus. To get rid of that, you need to scan your system thoroughly via an anti virus. If you are not using any third party antivirus program, you can also use the Microsoft Windows Defender to scan your system. Here’s how to do it:
- Press “WinKey + I” to open windows settings.
- Now, click on the “Update & Security” section.
- Turn your attention to the list on the left hand side. Here, you can see the “Windows Security” option.
- In this section, click on the “Virus & Threat Protection” option.
- This will open the Windows Defender page.
- Here, you can see the scan options. You can either perform a quick scan or go for a deep scan from the “scan options” link.
If this does not solve your problem you may have to format your drive and reinstall windows.
Check and Repair Disk Errors
Hardware storage devices can sometimes generate bad sectors while they are operational. These bad sectors do not render the drive completely useless. Instead, they take up a certain storage capacity permanently that is not accessible by any program. Unless there is physical damage to the disk, these sectors can be identified and cleared with a simple command. Use the command prompt to check and repair your disk.
- To open the command prompt, you can search for a CMD in the Windows 10 search bar. The program should pop up right away.
- In the command prompt, type chkdsk X: /f /r /x command and press enter to run it. While you type the command, replace the alphabet X with the partition letter. You might want to check all available partitions on your hard drive.
- Once the command is executed, you will be able to see problems with your hard drive. The command will automatically try to fix the errors if detected.
- If the bad sectors are repaired, you will find some additional space on your drive and the error should not appear again.
Close Resource Heavy Programs
As we mentioned earlier, the problem could occur either because of insufficient memory available on your hard drive or your RAM. If you open the task manager, you can see all active processes in your system. Along with that, the task manager also shows the number of resources being used by the process.
Any process that is highlighted with a dark yellow color represents unusually high resource usage. Also, the resource column such as CPU, Memory, or Network will be highlighted if a certain program is using a large percentage of the total capacity. Therefore, it becomes quite easy to identify the heavy process. If you find such a process in your task manager, the right course of action would be to terminate the process immediately. It can be done by right clicking on the process and selecting the “End task” option.
Once you close the heavy process, your resources will be freed up and the error should go away. If the error is resolved by simply closing one process, it means that your system is not capable of handling the process. If the process is crucial for you, you will have to upgrade the storage capacity or RAM capacity of your computer.
Use Windows Troubleshooter
Microsoft has provided a built in troubleshooter that can identify problems with your computer and try to fix it automatically. The troubleshooter includes some offline solutions for most recurring problems in Windows OS. And if the error is not resolved, it will try to find the solution online and patch up your system by itself.
The Windows Troubleshooter has also been useful against the “your computer is low on memory” errors for many users in the past. Hence, you can give it a try by taking the steps given here:
- Press the Windows button on your keyboard to bring up the start menu.
- This menu also works as a search bar in Windows 10. Search for “Troubleshooter” in this search bar.
- Click on the “Troubleshoot” settings from the results
- This will open the troubleshooter window.
- Now, as we want specific troubleshooting exercises, we need to go with the “additional troubleshooter” link present at the end of this page.
- Now, you can see various troubleshooting options available here. If you started facing this issue after installing a recent program from the Windows store, we recommend you run the “Windows Store” troubleshooting option from this page.
- This should resolve the problems with your system and also fix the low memory error.
Tweak Virtual Memory
Similar to the physical memory of your computer, there is also a virtual memory. But, virtual memory is a part of your operating system. This memory section allows your system to compensate for the shortage of memory by using your disk storage as a temporary memory device. As you can imagine, not having enough virtual memory can also cause a low memory warning on Windows PC. But fortunately, the virtual memory can be tweaked and you can easily increase the virtual memory by following these steps:
- Search for “advanced system settings” in the windows 10 search bar.
- Click on the first result. This will open advanced system settings in the control panel.
- Now, you will see 3 sections that are performance, startup and recovery. As we are dealing with the problem regarding the performance of the system, click on the “Settings” button in the performance section.
- Here, you can tweak basic windows options such as visual effects and animations. Click on the “Advanced” tab to proceed.
- Now, you shall see the “Virtual Memory” specification. You will also find the “Change” option in the virtual memory box from where you can tweak these parameters.
- Before you can do that, you will have to uncheck the box present on the top of the window under the “change” option.
- Now, simply input the values that you want, and click Ok. Make sure you increase the virtual memory by entering a higher value.
- Now that your PC has more virtual memory, the problem should be resolved.
Update Windows
Microsoft publishes new updates every week or so. These updates include general bug fixes and also dedicated solutions for problems in Windows OS. If windows have detected a large issue in your system, it will be reported to Microsoft. If the issue cannot be resolved by the troubleshooter app, Microsoft will include the solution in the next update for your computer. If there is a common problem in the OS that is faced by many users, Microsoft also introduces its patches via regular updates.
Hence, there is a good chance that your problem might get fixed by a simple update. To update your computer, simply head over to the “Update and Security” section in Windows settings and click on the “Check for Updates” box. This will automatically check for updates for your system and download the required files. Once the update is finished, just click on the “Install now” button to make the changes.
Your computer will now restart in order to install the updates. And hopefully, the update will resolve the low memory error once and for all.
Clean Temporary Files And Folders
There are a lot of temporary files that are getting created on a daily basis on your computer. The temp files are created by various programs and they keep on increasing if not cleared regularly. You should clean the temporary files and folders in your computer if you are facing a low memory problem as they take quite a lot of space on your hard drive. You can use the Windows disk cleanup software to do that.
- Open the disk cleanup software by typing disk cleanup in the search bar.
- Now, the program will ask you which drive partition do you wish to scan for cleanup. We will recommend starting with the Windows drive.
- Now, the program will quickly calculate the unnecessary content and give you a list. In the list, make sure the “Temporary” files are check and select the “Clean up system files“ option.
Remove Unnecessary Software
There are a lot of programs or software that we install in our system for a particular task and then never use again. These programs keep cluttering the storage drive as time passes. Also, some of these unwanted programs are set to launch when the PC starts. This occupies the RAM capacity. Thus, having large amounts of unnecessary programs also causes low memory problems on PC.
From the search bar, you can open the “Add or Remove Program” section and check all of the programs that are installed on your computer. From here, you can check various factors such as the name of the program, installation date, and occupied space. You will also get the option to uninstall the program right here. Thus, it gets quite easy to uninstall unnecessary programs sequentially from here.
Upgrade RAM
Lastly, we will suggest you upgrade your RAM capacity. If you are still facing the low memory problem after trying out all of the solutions provided here, it means that your RAM capacity is falling short for running all of the programs that are important for you. In this era, even 4 GB RAM capacity is not enough. You should have at least 8 GB of RAM for basic setups and 16 GB or more RAM capacity for gaming builds.
Final Words
Finding the low memory issue on your computer forbids you to use it with freedom. You will be restricted from launching apps or face constant crashing followed by the error message. Fortunately, the error can be resolved easily. There are many solutions provided for the error in our guide today. We can assure you that one out of these solutions will surely resolve the problem for you.
