I ain't gonna go into EXACTLY what virtual memory does as I ain't a braniac,
and there's plenty of reading on that in the Windows Help File
In summary though...
Virtual memory is disk space used by the system to page open yet currently unused files/processes etc
to to free up more real RAM for use by the files/processes that
are in current use.
It's a bit like a cache in some respects.
It also gives you the opportunity to handle apps/files that would normally require more memory than is physically installed,
as this disk space is treated as a slower partner to your DIMMS it bumps the total available RAM up to a higher level.
If the page file is set too low, you get poor performance and Windows will complain.
Set too large a pagefile and you'll be wasting disk space as well as giving the system an unnecessarily huge file to manage.
(This only really applies if you fix a static size of yer page file).
Get it right and you barely even notice it's there.
For 512MB try a pagefile setting of 768MB
Control Panel>System Properties>Advanced>Settings(In performance section)>Advanced Tab>Click change where it reads "Virtual Memory" at the bottom of the tab window
Hope this helpful ya braniacophobe
Ooooh never noticed Shixter 1st post
....Welcome to the NTFS forums. Enjoy your stay