It sounds more like you need to free up some space on your hard drive. 512 megs of memory is adequate for any image editing application. I work a lot with pictures because it is my business, so I'm normally working with anywhere between 25 and 75 pics at a time tasking between the scanner, PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro, Photo Paint, and a couple other programs at the same time. That also includes making photo videos (not motion picture videos). 512 was plenty for me when running 98 and XP. I upgraded for the sake of motion picture videos. Years of working with pictures did not force me into it. Whenever I get those error messages, I know it's time to check hard disk space, and invariably I am quite low. Also don't forget to check the Windows Temp directory, which accumulates lots of useless tmp files, and the Recycle Bin. I often forget and leave stuff in there.

To answer your questions: Yes, there are different kinds. Either your order (purchase) form will tell you or the book on your motherboard will tell you what kind of memory you need. Or, pop a/the chip out of its well and take it to the store with you. They can look at it and tell you. To pop it out, you're looking for a card about 1 inch deep and about 4 inches wide. It is held in place with a white clip on one end. Pop the clip. Ideally, you want a gig of memory since you're upgrading anyway. More if you want and your motherboard can accommodate. You might find one chip (a 512 chip) or two chips (2-256 chips), but I doubt there would be more than two there. Note how many wells you have and whether they are the same color so you can figure out how to maximize your purchase, of course depending on how much you're willing to spend.

Just go to Crucial.com and they will scan your computer and tell you exactly the type of memory you need. If you currently have 1 (512MB) module, another 512MB should be more than sufficient> But first as mentioned above, do a system clean of temp files through Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Clean and also see how many programs you have running at start up

Thank you for the responses. I really don't think it is a drive space problem. I still have 207GB left from a possible 232GB. Also, all Temp files are cleaned up at 5AM each Saturday morning. I am leaning towards the memory being hogged up by too many things on StartUp. Is there a way to safely MANUALLY disable some of these programs on XP? I would not want to use any of the automatic cleaners that I have checked out. Thanks agaiin - Ida

Try holding down the Alt and Control (CTRL) button then tap the Delete button and bring up your task manager. Now if you look in the bottom left corner you can see how many processes are running. Then click the Processes tab if it is not on top and scroll down the list to see if you have a hog or two using your resources.

Also try clicking Start/All programs and the Start button to see if anything is starting there that does not need to be started at boot time. MS Office puts itself in there for example yet there is absolutely no need for that.

Or click Start/Run and type msconfig - OK then click the Startup tab and see what you have. NO NOT disable randomly in here. Check each entry, some must be there but others do not. Google, Real and Quciktime are good examples of things that do not need to be activated at startup.

fwiw
Swap file(virtual memory) if set too small, or corrupt, will pop the out of memory message box. I can remember needing to turn it off and back on to clear a bad swap.

So will programs that leak memory,,, task manager and click the memory heading to line them up.. and you probably see whats up there.