"Virtual memory". Help please!

[catswhisker]

My laptop has just flashed up a scary message telling me that "my virtual memory is too low" or some such, and that it's unilaterally increasing it even as I write.
... And could it be related to the fact that two days ago, the thing crashed completely, refused to start and flashed up a big sign demanding the date and time.. ? But when I put them in, it got into a "restart" cycle, demanded them all over again.. etc etc Took it to pooter casualty, only for it to start up just peachy. The guy there thought it might be because it had been in the car for ages on a hot day, which would have warmed up the battery.

Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do?

Many thanks, from a pignoramus.

[Saab Dastard]

Virtual memory is an area of your hard disk that the operating system uses instead of real RAM to store programs that are running in the background.

If your PC crashed recently, it may have corrupted the pagefile (virtual memory) and Windows is re-creating it.

Also, if you have added RAM Windows will increase the pagefile to 1.5 x actual RAM (IIRC).

In winXP you can view / set the pagefile settings from My Computer / properties / advanced / performance / settings / advanced.

This message can also be encountered when the hard disk itself gets very full and / or fragmented. Check the C drive - anything more than 80% full is likely to cause problems, over 90% almost certainly will. You can also view / correct fragmentation with the windows defrag tool.

The date and time issue does sound like a failed CMOS battery - it provides a small amount of power to maintain syatem settings for the BIOS. If the battery fails it loses the settings, hence the cycle.

I guess the manufacturer's operating environment statements are there for a reason! I've never seen a problem with overheated batteries myself, but then I doubt I've ever operated outside the specified temperature range!

[catswhisker]

Crikey. Thanks, SD. I'll try a bumbling amateur disgnostic ...