Losing your memory?


Tip
To quickly check the amount of memory available, open Program Manager, File Manager, or a Windows accessory and choose Help--About. The total K Free listed for memory is the total of the physical RAM in your computer plus the size of your permanent swap file minus whatever memory Windows and Windows apps are using. But you may open this dialogue box to see a shockingly small amount of free memory listed -- say, "12 K Free" when the reading should be closer to 12,000.
If this happens to you, head straight to Control Panel. Double-click the International icon, and click the Change button under Number Format. If the 1000 Separator box in the resulting screen is empty, you've found the culprit. The lack of an entry here will not only clip off the end of your memory reading in the About box, but will do the same for file size readings in the Windows 3.1 File Manager status bar. (Because it has a different File Manager, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 is immune to the latter problem but is still vulnerable to the former.)
The fix is easy: Type a comma in the box (or whatever punctuation you use to separate thousands) and click OK twice. If that doesn't help, consider a memory upgrade.

Category: Digital Helpline, Windows 3.x
Issue: Dec 1996
Pages: 178

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