Most likely, this is caused by the paging file value being set too low.
To correct this, increase the size of the paging file.
Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
Under the "General" tab, you will find how much RAM is on your system.
To Change the Pagefile size, click on the Advanced Tab.
Then under "Performance" Click on "Settings"
Then click on the "Advanced" tab and under "Virtual Memory" click "Change".
From here, you will be able to set, reset, or custom select your pagefile. Windows XP default pagefile size is 1.5 times the amount of RAM.
Pagefiles may become corrupted. By setting the pagefile to "No paging file", the pagefile will be deleted. By recreating the pagefile (setting a new size after selecting "No paging file")corruption of the pagefile MAY be eliminated.
If there is more than one harddrive on the system (or the harddrive has been partitioned to more than one harddrive) there may be a performance gain by moving the pagefile to a partition that does not contain the operating system.
Further Reading: