Some questions a computer whizz might be able to answer..

[shellylay81]

Why does my computer intermittently pause every once in a while and make a "beep" noise? What is it doing?? And what the heck is virtual memory, and why does my computer ask me every few months if it can increase the size of my virtual memory? *Rolleyes

[markmanxp]

Are we talking Windows XP?

You really want a long answer ? :-D - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_memory

Otherwise, I would say basically it is your computer using your hard drive as "virtual" memory when actual memory isn't available for your computer/applications to use/run. Of course using your hard drive as memory is a lot slower than it using Ram. That is why it is better to have as much phyiscal ram (memory) installed in your PC as you have room for or can afford.

The pausing and beep is going to take more troubleshooting to determine.