virtual memory too low

I recently acquired a used PC from a friend of mine. Before he gave it to me he completely reformatted it, wiped the whole lot clean. I have downloaded and installed all the required security I need, which is working fine. However, when I try to run an application like Facebook, a message comes up saying (paraphrase) 'Script Error. Virtual Memory Too Low', then shuts down that application and returns to the Homepage. What is Virtual Memory and how can I repair this problem? It's a Packard Bell. 256mb on XP home edition. Not sure what Service Pack is running on it, maybe SP2. Should I download SP3? Is that a possible glitsch? Thanks for ANY advice.

 

You might want to take a look at this:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/paging_file.htm

 

256 MB is not enough for SP2. The original XP an even SP1 ran reasonably on this amount of RAM

Don't go for SP3 you wil make matters worse still.

What do you mean reformatted? If it was a clean install of XP, Windows will be set to automatically handle the Virtual Memory?

You could try the following

Internet Explorer>tools>options>advanced tab

Untick: Didplay notification about every script error
tick: disable script debugging.

 

You need to upgrade your memory on your computer as windows XP requires 512mb RAM minimum to run smoothly but preferably I would put in 1GB which is more than enough to run. You will need to look at your motherboard spec to see how much memory it will take before installing as you can damage your mobo if you put in the wrong type memory or even not fit in to the slots.

hope this helps

 

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate it. Tried all of them. Upped to 512mb, but it didn't help. Went to theeldergeek and visited Crucial. THEN....I was directed to the Performance and Maintenance area of the PC. Start>Control Panel>Performance And Maintenance>System>Advanced>Performance>Advanced>Change>Increase. Increased CUSTOM SIZE and INITIAL SIZE to the reccommended 670mb>Set>OK. It was set at 144mb initially. Just in case you all ever get this problem again, this fixed it.
Thanks for the prompt replies, y'all.

 

thats great news to hear, if you ever have any more problems please come back to us

 

Glad you got it fixed, but that was why I asked about the 'reformat'. This would not have happened if it was a standard install, as 144Mb is not the default Microsoft setting.

So a good question to consider would be:

What other unconventional settings has your reformatter set?

 

Any advice on what I should look for? The PC was completely wiped. Think he was a porno addict and wanted to remove all incriminating evidence. Seriously.
Anyway, thanks again for the replies.