As a user of Microsoft Windows – whether software developer, business user, or generic web browser – it’s inevitable that you’ll see this dialog, usually at a most inopportune time. One’s reaction is invariably How is that possible, I don’t have many applications open?, quickly followed by saving all in-progress work and exiting as many applications as possible. Non-techies are often unaware of the innumerable background processes and services running, which may in fact be the root problem cause. Ultimately no amount of manual cleanup fixes it; it’s why I prefer reboots over a losing whack-a-mole battle.
[Truthfully, other than my wife’s personal computer, I have successfully avoided working in Windows for years and instead prefer MacOS, Linux, FreeBSD, essentially anything but Windows.]
Unsurprisingly, out-of-memory errors are seen in public, as evidenced Saturday at Keflavik Airport: two different gate displayed showed out-of-memory errors as I walked the international gates. Professionally, I lean away from the application being the cause – I expect the app to be a fairly small and simple, running on standardized hardware – and lean towards one or more IT changes that installed new or updated existing software without adequate testing. Typical.
But more importantly, how hard is it to reboot the box and get rid of the message? Uhhhh…..
