Virtual Memory question

[LightDemon69]

I always thought that Virtual Memory was used when you ran out of room on your RAM, but apparently this is not the case. I have the iBook G4 in my sig with 1.25 GB of RAM, and I have tons of room left on my RAM, but all of my processes are using roughly 100 MB of Virtual memory. Is there a way to make them use more of my RAM instead, because doesn't that make them.... well.... "Snappier"? Hopefully I don't look like an idiot for being completely wrong.

 

[GGJstudios]

In Mac OS X, programs can use any amount of available RAM they need. Mac OS X loads as much of a program into RAM as it can, even parts not currently in use. This may inflate the reported RAM being used by the system. When RAM is needed, the system will page out to disk parts not currently in use. The OS does this dynamically, so there's no need to try to adjust it. Of course, the more physical RAM you have, the better. The OS will automatically make the most efficient use of physical and virtual memory to maximize performance.

Here is some more information: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918

 

[CanadaRAM]

Don't worry, be happy. Let OSX do its thing.

 

[ebel3003]

Anything in memory that goes 'inactive' is cached to the disk and made available to be reloaded into memory when needed. This is normal behavior and there really isn't any reason to change that behavior because it's still fast. And don't be surprised if you start accumulating humongous VM caches.