Computer Low on Memory

[chopper]

Hello,

I have a reasonably fast internet connection and just did a speed test to check it. However, loading internet pages takes ages. I use firefox and chrome, chrome being my preferred one. However quite often chrome will just freeze. Also I quite often get a message that my computer is low on memory and that I should close one of these browsers, or they will just crash.

I've googled this problem before. The common answer seems to be going to System Properties (Advanced tab) --> click "Settings..." button under Performance --> Performance Options (Advanced tab) --> click "Change..." button under Virtual memory --> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" --> Check "Custom Size"

One suggestion was to take the Recommended Total paging file size and use this for both the initial and maximum size. This has not worked for me though.

I found another suggested solution on youtube which said that I should multiply the recommended by my amount of RAM for the initial size and then double this figure for the maximum size. However, whilst I just have the C: [OS] drive this person had various drives and their volume label (whatever that means) was new volumes.

My Recommend is 1915 MB. My specs are intel core i7-3770 @3.4 GHz, RAM: 8 GB, 64-bit OS

Any suggestions for what I should set my initial and maximum to please? When they were higher my pc was really slow though.
Any other suggestions for improving the low memory problem and chrome freezing?

Those specs are reasonably good I would have thought, I feel like I've got back to the 1990s though. I'm considering uninstalling Windows 10 and doing a clean install of Windows 7 as I'm having so many problems.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Old Guy Geek]

First, to address you system paging file. You should definitely set it for the same min and max values. That way, Windows doesn't have to work at adjusting it. You should also delete it and recreate it. When you create the new file it creates a single unfragmented file that will not move. Because it is unfragmented, it will be read and written to much faster. But I doubt that your paging file is your problem, especially if the low memory only occurs with using Chrome.

But to the real problem with Chrome. It's Chrome. For a long time, Chrome has been slow and buggy on Windows 8 and 10. You might want to follow the procedures in this older post. As in the link, some systems have this problem and some don't. And since it is fairly old, some of the steps may not apply anymore.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/2SapTOU8_Po

A disclaimer. I only use Chrome occasionally to access my YouTube channel settings. It is slower than IE or Edge, but not so much that it is unusable. At least on my system.

 

[chopper]

Thank you for the reply.

I'm not sure how to delete and recreate the page file?

I have the low memory problem with both firefox and chrome. It's just chrome that tends to freeze though so I don't know if that's related or due to something else.

 

[Old Guy Geek]

You can delete the paging file the same way you set it. There is an option for 'no paging file' on that screen. With the amount of memory on your system, there should be no negative impact when you reboot and then reset it. That's also why I think it is something else.

 

[chopper]

So what other reasons could there be for my internet pages taking so long to load given my speed checks say my internet speed is better than average?

 

[Old Guy Geek]

Have you tried the fixes for Chrome yet? Also reset your router. Although it will come back with the same settings, it could help.

Lastly, what virus protection are you using? Do you have one with active Internet protection? If so, turn it off for a minute and try to use your browsers. See if that makes a difference.

 

[chopper]

I downloaded the chrome cleanup tool which didn't seem to help. With the other advice I saw words like sandbox and omnibox and to be honest that put me off as I really don't know what I'm doing.

I keep seeing "resolving host...." in the bottom left corner for a long time. I googled this and it was suggested I change to a public DNS such as google public DNS. I've therefore gone to internet protocol 4 and typed in 8.8.8.8 for my preferred DNS server and 8.8.4.4 for my alternative. Then I clicked on internet protocol 6 and copied and pasted 2001:4860:4860::8888 for my preferred and 2001:4860:4860::8844 for my alternate.

Apparently this should have made the resolving host.... issue go away but it's still there and it seems even worse now. To be honest I don't have too much clue about what I'm doing so I hope I'm not making my situation worse.

In another thread on here I wrote that Windows 10 thought I had another AV turned on so it wouldn't turn on Defender on. This never got resolved so I resorted to downloading the free version of Zonealarm.

 

[chopper]

I checked my internet connectivity and it says:

ipv4 connectivity: internet
ipv6 connectiveity: no network access

 

[Old Guy Geek]

Messing with your Network adapter settings is very, very rarely needed. I would put them back to normal. You should be able to go to Device Manager and delete it and Windows should redetect the network card and reinstall the drivers.

Next, if you have a manufacturer made PC, I would go the their support page and check for any Windows 10 drivers specific for your model. If you have a system you made, go to the motherboard manufacturer's web site. Download and install any drivers there.

You may find Bios updates as well. Since you said your weren't that experienced, be very careful about any Bios update. Stopping a Bios update in the middle can permanently screw up your motherboard. Most manufacturers have made it pretty simple, but make sure you pay attention to their instructions.