What's the difference between physical memory and virtual memory?

According to the system info on my computer, right now I have 133.96MB of available physical memory (out of 512.00MB of total memory). My available physical memory changes constantly while I'm using my computer. At times, it has dropped down as low as 29.00MB. Because of this, I have trouble downloading games etc. I just don't have enough physical memory on my computer. I've done all the disc cleanup I know how to do. Now my virtual memory never seems to change. It remains at: 1.96GB available memory (out of 2.00GB total memory). Is it possible for me to start using that available memory?What's the difference between physical memory and virtual memory?
physical memory is the memory related to your specific computer...512MB is not that much....look at investing in a larger memory install...the virtual memory is like a file size your applications utilize to run their particular program...some the the applications files are put into your memory for your computer....but a virtual file actually runs the game....is your virtual file size large enough?



I would recommend buying at least 1GB of memory...that is if your computer is configurable to hold it....What's the difference between physical memory and virtual memory?
physical memory is the ram sticks

that hold info temporally

Virtual memory

is a part of the hard drive that windows sets aside

for cases when the system memory is full and it is laid down on the disc

hence slow downloads or even stalling



you are running xp (guess)

1gb of ram will speed your system up and end the bottle neck you have