Run program with less RAM

[Arrow_Raider]

I have an ancient program that crashes because my computer has too much ram. It doesn't work if it sees more than 512 mb of ram. Is there a way to run in a compatability mode or something where it would only have access to 512 mb of ram?

[chris128]

Is it an MS DOS program? If it is then I think you can right click on the file and go to properties and there are some memory options in there.
If not then the only other option I know of would be to just use a virtual machine (Virtual PC and VMWare Workstation are both free downloads) as you can limit the memory available to a virtual machine with ease.

[Lord Orwell]

have you tried running it in win95 compatibility mode? This lies to the program and tells it settings such as 2gb hard drive, 512mb memory, etc.

i forgot the obvious: check on line for a patch. I have a couple of older games that won't even launch in xp without a patch. Revolt comes to mind. Sure am glad i kept the patch on my hard drive. It's not available on line any more.

[Arrow_Raider]

There is no patch, and a newer version is many thousands of dollars. The 95 compatibility setting didn't solve the issue either. I will probably load the software on a virtual pc, but I am concerned about performance because the computer is just an eeepc. I had been hoping for a sandbox mode program host or something.

[chris128]

thats pretty much what a virtual PC is though isnt it... a separate environment that you can run programs in that can be tailored to have as much memory and hard drive space as you like (within the constaints of the physical machine you run it on obviously).
I find VMWare to be slightly quicker than Virtual PC so if performance is a worry then you might want to go down that route.

[Lord Orwell]

thats pretty much what a virtual PC is though isnt it... a separate environment that you can run programs in that can be tailored to have as much memory and hard drive space as you like (within the constaints of the physical machine you run it on obviously).
I find VMWare to be slightly quicker than Virtual PC so if performance is a worry then you might want to go down that route.

it's more processor intensive than a sandbox.

my question: are you absolutely 100% sure it's the memory that is the issue?