Physical memory(MB) for Windows 7
Total 4021
Cached 1113
Available 768
Free 174
Memory used 3.25GB
At this point, windows7 asks me to close some programs because "system memory is low".
From my understanding reading articles, I still have 768 MB free memory, why does windows7 complain?
Also what does Cached memory refer to? Is this part of memory that Windows7 reserved for itself meaning it's free to use by Windows7 (and means I have about 768 + 1113 MB of free mem?)?
Best Answer
If you're running Windows 7 in 32 bit mode you will NOT have a full 4 GB available to begin with.
The cached memory is typically used by the disk system to speed things up by pre-reading stuff or keeping old disk buffers available in case they need to be re-used. Win7 will typically use this heavily - which is usually a good thing. It's not "free" memory in any sense of the word.
If you're running a VM then you have an entirely different problem. Try to make sure you're not over-committing RAM to the VM. Look at your XP task manager and if your RAM usage while running your normal programs is a low percentage (25% or lower) you might think about reducing the RAM allocated to the XP VM.
As harrymc said, don't disable the page file. If its heavily used - you're right, that IS a bad thing, but it will keep your system running instead of crashing.