virtual memory blues

hey, i've got this incredibly annoying problem that won't go away. about a month ago i started getting page file errors (virtual memory too low etc) and when i checked, the page file size was like 2.5gb! i have since jiggled the page file size to what i thought was great effect, but the problem returns pretty much daily.

at about the same time almost a week before i discovered this, i
A) discovered that i had a variant of the virus Java/Openstream that i believe i have since gotten rid of and
B) threw in a friend's old HD to backup some data that he wanted to salvage. the drive wasn't corrupted or anything, he had simply removed it to put into a new pc and asked me if i would burn some files to a cd.

anyway

common sense and instinct are telling me it had something to do with the hard drive but i smoked way too much reefer this summer to be able to think about this crap.

i've gone through the (very thorough and well-put together) virus cleansing steps posted in the board here, and i'm pretty sure i've eliminated that aspect of things.

oh and of course

i run xp home sp2

 

For the pagefile, how much system ram do you have?

For the Java related virus that you believe you got rid of, are you sure you are malware free? To be sure, I'd post in the spyware forum after reading:

NO HIJACK THIS LOG FILES BEFORE READING THIS: HJT Tutorial & LOG File Posting

and

READ ME FIRST BEFORE ASKING FOR SUPPORT: Basic Spyware, Trojan And Virus Removal

 

i'm running 768mb at the moment. i've steadily increased the size of the pagefile to about 1.5 gigs, but will still see it run as high as 2 in task manager. i noticed today that it seems to build up over time regardless of how many applications are open. for example, i'll leave for school in the morning and leave my pc on. by the time i get back in the afternoon it's up hovering by the max limit.

 

Is this computer connected to the internet (dsl/cable/sat) by any chance? Also, this may be a memory leak within a certain program. Within taskmanager, which program seems to be taking the most memory?

 

yes, i'm sharing a broadband line with 2 other pcs (ugh.. getting my own line soon) on a wireless router.

the only top level apps i leave open all day are itunes and firefox, both of which i'd have trouble believing were the source of a leak

i also play WoW, which usually hovers between 400 and 450,000k.

i can't really think of anything else that looks to be out of the ordinary process-wise, mostly because i never have any unnecessary background processes running.

 

... i'm ashamed, but

bizzity-bump

 

Just a thought of course i may be way off the track, but is there a chance that your paging file is fragmented? Do you have plenty of free HD space?

 

i had that exact thought last night at about 2am so i downloaded an app and defragmented it. i was pretty confused this morning when it took 4-5 minutes to start up but then i remembered... yeah. i'm not sure what effect it will have, if any, but i'll keep it posted.