Question : Problem: Virtual memory low - wanting general education on why my computer even thinks it needs so much virtual memory

I get confused by the warning that my computer does not have enough virtual memory.  The machine has 2 GB of physical memory, and when I look at Task Manager, it says I have ~ 1400000 available, total is 2095072.  The system cache is ~ 1560000.  When I look at those numbers, I ask myself "Why isn't more of my physical memory being used?  It looks like about a 1/4 is used, and meanwhile, my PF Usage is 2.71 GB.  What is all that about?"  My understanding is the page file is on t he hard disk, so the read speed will be slower, and this in turn would hurt performance, specifically when a process must retrieve information from the page file.  

So, first, are my understandings correct?
Second, is the huge amount of PF Usage excessive?
Third, can I and should I force the computer to use more physical memory and less PF?

Thank you in advance for enlightening me on this subject.

Answer : Problem: Virtual memory low - wanting general education on why my computer even thinks it needs so much virtual memory

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Computer101
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