High Memory Usage

I'll switch back to auto page filing and see how it goes. The only programs I had running were Chrome and Malwarebytes (idle in background, but uses the most mem for some reason)

For starters, I don't actually see an issue with your memory usage. Looking at both pictures posted, numbers look good. Cached memory will come and go and should be the least of your concerns. It is simply memory that has been used, but was not emptied afterwards. Why? Because if you happen to reuse an application that caused that memory to be used in the first place, or reuse data that is cached, such as a file, instead of reloading from slower 3rd tier storage, it's already in RAM. Caching is a good thing, not a bad thing. If memory is needed that is unavailable, Windows has no issues dumping cached contents and using that memory as everything in cache is safely and permanently stored elsewhere. The memory in the Free area is memory that is literally going to waste. It's sitting around not doing anything, except maybe using up electricity. If what you are hoping to see is a maximized amount of Free memory, you have a misunderstanding of how your computer should be operating to give you best performance.

Virtual memory can be very important. In fact, not having it can cause programs to misbehave. It gives Windows a much larger address space to allot to programs, many of which usually ask for memory that they don't end up using, or use infrequently, so it's a great place for Windows to keep low priority memory addresses. Windows doesn't like running out of memory address space, so keep this in mind when you are fiddling around to reduce it's allocatable addresses. Make sure you have enough physical addresses to cover your needs. In your case, since you have 8 GB of RAM, I would recommend a page file somewhere in the 8 GB range or larger. There is no perfect setting for this, but setting it too small can cause issues. Once you get to the 16 GB or higher range for installed physical RAM, then I would say turning it off can be revisited, but on a case by case basis. 8 GB just isn't enough with how quickly it can be consumed by user processes to be turning the page off completely.

If you have an SSD plus a spinning platter hard disk for storage, I recommend the page file be on the spinning platter hard drive, as writes to the page file may reduce the life expectancy of your SSD, especially if your system regularly hammers on the page file. Setting a fixed size page file can improve performance in cases where the page file is too small and resizes often. The page file actually needs a contiguous chunk of space, so it can take time for this to be dealt with when Windows is set to automatic.

My first suspicion with your program issues would be the extraneous software such as Rocketdock. It clearly ties in to programs, much like Windows Taskbar, and if it doesn't interface well, I imagine any applications it's fiddling with will pay the price.

I read the post, thanks, and it didn't say high memory usage "warning," in fact, he didn't specifically state he was receiving a message at all, warning or error. The OP said he was having "high memory usage errors," after explaining that programs were closing on their own, followed by the symptom of sometimes freezing up, as possibly being related. The OP's wording can be understood in more than one way.

The OP's wording in the first post makes it sound as though, turning off his paging file is what stopped the programs from closing on their own. Again, it could use more specific or careful wording as it can be taken in more than one way. From the way I read it, the OP was having issues, before he turned off his page file, otherwise, why would he have turned off his page file in the first place?