How Does Virtual Memory Help Your Computer

What is virtual memory? It is basically a backup memory system that allows your RAM (Random Access Memory) to offload some of its files and information so that it can operate at a higher level. Your PC most likely has a memory capacity of 128 or 64 MB – that is the standard amount of RAM. That's a lot of memory, but it surprising how quickly you can fill your computer up. When the RAM starts to get overloaded it has trouble running several programs at the same time. This is when virtual memory kicks in. RAM will temporarily move some less important files over to virtual memory so that it has a little more room to operate more efficiently.

RAM is exceptionally fast at retrieving information because it doesn't search for it in a sequence. Instead, it can be instantly retrieved. This is why you don't want your computer compensating with virtual memory too much. It's much faster to rely on RAM.

When you ask your computer to execute several actions at once as well as launch other applications, the memory required to do this is often more than the capacity of your RAM. As such, your RAM makes use of virtual memory. Sometimes it splits the application by sending secondary functions over to virtual memory and launching the more important features in RAM. The application doesn't know that its functions have been divided.

Virtual memory is saved on your computer under the "Paging File." Information is saved in RAM on pages. These are same-sized blocks of data that are transferred, or "swapped" over to virtual memory to clear up some room in RAM. When you need the information stored on these pages, your computer scans the pages. This is extremely beneficial but it is also why you don't want to rely too heavily on virtual memory. Not only is RAM faster, but the swapping process that takes place can significantly slow you down.

This whole process basically fools RAM into thinking that it has a lot bigger capacity that it actually does. If computers didn't have virtual memory they wouldn't be as fast and efficient as they are today. We can operate a variety of programs and applications all at once due to the relationship between physical and virtual memory.

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