I keep getting a message saying my computer is low on memory but I don’t have much stuff on it, what does that mean?
Your computer is confusing “storage” with “memory” (RAM). RAM is the temporary workspace your computer uses while it’s running, and when it gets full, Windows panics and throws that message, even if your hard drive is practically empty.
Quick things to check first
- Close all those extra browser tabs! Google Chrome is notorious for eating up your computer’s workspace like a hungry hippo, so shutting down tabs you aren’t actively using can fix this right away.
- Restart your computer. I know it sounds like the classic “have you tried turning it off and on again” joke, but a fresh reboot completely wipes out the temporary memory and gives you a clean slate.
- Look at the bottom right of your screen near the clock. If you have a ton of little icons down there, those are programs running in the background. Right-click and exit out of the ones you don’t need right now, like Spotify or Skype.
If that didn’t fix it
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard to open Task Manager. Click on “More details” at the bottom if it looks simple, then go to the “Processes” tab. Click the top of the column that says “Memory” to sort everything by what’s eating the most RAM. If you see a specific app hogging a huge percentage while you aren’t even using it, right-click it and select “End Task.”
- Check how much total RAM your computer actually has. Hold down the Windows key and press Pause/Break. Look for “Installed RAM.” If you see 2GB or 3GB, your computer is just too old and small for today’s internet, and the error is a normal fact of life. If you have 8GB or more and still get this error while doing nothing, you likely have a rogue background program.
- Open your Start menu, type “Resource Monitor” and hit Enter. Click the “Memory” tab. This gives you a much deeper look than Task Manager. Look at the “Hard Faults/sec” column. If a program you don’t recognize has a massive number there, it’s constantly grabbing memory and causing the freeze-ups.
- Adjust your Virtual Memory. Hold the Windows key and press R, type “sysdm.cpl” and hit Enter. Go to the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory, click Change. Make sure “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” is checked. WARNING: Do not manually set custom numbers here unless you absolutely know what you are doing. Messing with these settings the wrong way can stop Windows from booting up properly, requiring a pro to rescue your system.
When to call a pro
If you have 8GB or 16GB of RAM, you’ve closed all your apps, and the computer still freezes up and throws the low memory warning while just sitting idle on the desktop, stop messing with it. Also, if you go into Task Manager and try to end a task, but it instantly pops right back up and keeps eating memory, you likely have a nasty malware infection that needs professional removal tools.
Pro tip
Treat your computer’s RAM like a kitchen counter. The more junk you leave out on the counter, the less room you have to actually chop vegetables. Keep your startup programs lean by opening Task Manager, going to the Startup tab, and right-clicking to disable things like Steam or Adobe from automatically launching every time you turn on your PC.
Sources
- I keep getting a popup stating system Memory is Critically low my computer
- Keep getting error message in Google Chrome- “not enough memory”
- My Pc prompts a message saying ‘your computer is low on memory’ regardless of my ram usage, even if it is on idle. How do I fix this? - Quora
- Top Solutions to Your Computer Is Low on Memory, Exact Steps
- Why am I getting low memory warnings so often/full pc freezing and …