not enough memory

[fromptok]

Isn't there some way I can just delete some ram memory?

[The Wise Monkey]

What do you mean? Are you getting an error about "not enough memory, increasing paging file size"?

[fromptok]

I'm am trying to download a virus scanner and it says it doesn't have suffidient memory to run application to contact maker for documentation for minimum memory requirements.

[The Wise Monkey]

I assume that you are running quite old hardware, as this would not be an issue with modern hardware.

Every application that you run is allocated a certain amount of RAM by the Operating System. Depending on how big/complicated the program is, more RAM is needed e.g. Notepad requires a lot less RAM than Microsoft Word, for example.

Virus scanners require quite a bit of memory, but they are designed to run in the background while you work on other things. Therefore, you need to have a certain amount of memory spare in the first place to run the virus scanner without seriously reducing performance. This is why software companies tell you about the minimum requirements for their software.

In your case, you don't have enough spare memory, even with no programs running, to run the anti-virus without taking a big hit in performance i.e. your computer would be unusable.

My advice would be to try a different anti-virus product - one that has a lower system requirement. Which product were you trying to use?

The alternative of course is to buy some more RAM. What are the specs of your computer?

[fromptok]

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer HP Pavilion 04
System Model P5266A-ABA 7915
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 10 GenuineIntel ~1096 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix 3.06, 8/30/2001
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name
Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 128.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 26.34 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 345.20 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


Also, my broadband modem says I have 0bytes of free space?

[The Wise Monkey]

You only have 128MB of memory in your computer - the recommended amount for XP is 256MB. I suggest that you buy some more RAM - its really cheap at the moment. Another 512MB would be a good idea.

Something like this would be good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220027