Windows 7: Swap file uses max, asks to close apps

Question

I use Windows 7 Ultimate on an Acer Aspire S5-391 with 4GB of RAM. The system frequently asks me to close my programs, and says I have very small free RAM. I increased my paging file size to 10 GB and still it asks me.

It has a paired SSD, "LITEONIT CMT-64L3M" with a small 100MB partiton (no drive letter) and 120GB in the C: partition, made by joining the SSDs together as a Raid 0 Volume.

Usually I'm just browsing the web or programming in phpstorm or VS2013. I don't know if it is connected, but Chrome started crashing as well.

It is not like I turn on computer & it is already at max. At start it takes 2GB from RAM, but now free RAM is 1.3 GB and free disk space is 6 GB.

What could be the problem? How can I fix it?

Answer 1

As wisely noted at Windows 7 / Page File Disabled / 12 GB RAM / 2+ GB RAM free and "your computer is running low on memory" apps will ask for much more workspace than they need. The workspace is far more than you have available in RAM. Ideally, the solution is to add more RAM, for Windows is programmed to use nearly all available RAM at all times. But, that's not practical to do on a Sunday.

OK, suggest you do some SSD cleaning. Download and install Bleachbit, close all other apps, and then clear all cookies, temp files and caches, for browsers. Do NOT clear any Windows, desktop or icon caches and in browsers, do not clear Passwords, Form History or Places; the only thing to clear away in Deep Scan are Temporary Files. The only things to clear in System are Cache, Localizations, Temporary Files Update Uninstallers, and Trash, for you are getting low on drive space.

Then, Press the Windows + Pause Break keys > in the left pane click on Advanced system settings -> click on the Advanced tab -> in the Performance section click the Settings... button -> click on the Advanced tab -> click on the Change... button. -> Select C: -> enable Custom Size and set the minimum and maximum swap file size to 4.3GB -> then click OK. Also, change the dump option to Complete memory dump so you can provide that if the problem persists, with Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced System Settings (on the left panel) -> Settings in Startup and Recovery section.

Then, after a reboot, advise if the problem recurs.

BTW, the internal drive is described at the SSD Review website.