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General discussion

Constant 'Program too big to fit memory' errors

Feb 22, 2004 10:45AM PST

Windows 2000
Maxtor 80 GB C: Drive
392 MB of memory

Whenever I try to open certain programs (Windows Media Player, Real Player, Winamp, AIM) it opens in MS-DOS with the message "Program too big to fit memory" then closes. When I check my CPU and MEM usage, everything is fine, hardly goes above 3%. There aren't any processes open that use more than 6 MB of memory (except IEXPLORE.EXE that uses 19 MB), and I've tried closing all nonessential processes just to be safe, but it didn't change anything. Other programs like Adobe Photoshop work at normal speed as usual. I haven't changed any system preferences, but I may have downloaded a virus from a P2P sharing program.

Side-note: Whenever I shut down or restart my computer, explorer.exe doesn't respond and I have to force quit it. But I've had that problem for a while, it's just one of the many small glitches my computer has developed. Just thought that information might mean something...

Discussion is locked

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Re:Constant 'Program too big to fit memory' errors
Feb 22, 2004 8:31PM PST

This one is sadly, most often due to virus or other "malware." If you are lucky, a virus scanner may find it and with the NAME of the bug, a cure can be found. Otherwise you get to save your files somewhere and get ready to reinstall or repair the OS.

Bob

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Re:Re:Constant 'Program too big to fit memory' errors
Mar 2, 2004 2:56AM PST

Bob did this person consider changing the paging file size and swap file settings? Also how full is the cache in the temp files? If your caceh in the temp and temp internet files are overloaded, will cause this issue, along with resizing the swap file.

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Reply to original poster.
Mar 2, 2004 3:09AM PST

As I'm not privy to such and they haven't responded, you should ask them.

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Re:Constant 'Program too big to fit memory' errors
Feb 24, 2004 4:58AM PST

You could check what service pack is installed. Also install an anti-virus program, AVG from grisoft.com is good (and free for personal use). Use the windows update program and verify that all upgrades/updates are installed. hth.