How does Vista decide which programs should be closed when low on memory?

Question

Vista displays the dialog "Close programs to prevent information loss" when the system is low on virtual memory.

In this dialog it names programs you should close. People have reported to me that it sometimes names the program I develop.

How does Vista decide which programs should be closed? I'm wondering if this dialog is telling me that my program is at fault, or if it's just being named for some other reason (such as it was the last program to be started).

Thanks.

Answer 1

It could also be listed because it's taking up (proportionately) more memory than other things that are running. If you're using .NET to develop this, that's somewhat more likely.

It makes sense that Vista would choose the higher-consuming applications to suggest shutting down first, as that would get the most return for the user's inconvenience (possibly preventing a recurrence of that dialog in another couple of minutes).