"Andy Fish" wrote in message
...
I have turned on the pagefile and it's working again, but I just don't
understand how vista can behave in this way

the cache uses _spare_ memory (i.e. that which is not required for
applications). how can the cache possibly grow so large that there is not
enough memory for applications? it just doesn't make any sense at all.

"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Start using a pagefile again. Some programs demand that a pagefile be
present to function correctly.



Did you read the previous reply from Mark H? If a pagefile is
present, and an application requests more memory, data in
the cache will be moved to the pagefile to release memory,
as needed by the application.

If there is no pagefile to write to, the cache will protect it's
data, and not release it to the application. It also works that
way in WinXp. The same thing happens if the system runs
out of pagefile space.