Buy more RAM.
No, really. I’ve come to the conclusion that 90% of PC performance problems in this world can be solved by throwing RAM at them. All the tweaks and service packs and and hard drive compression and deleting this and that and jiggering something or another are fine, but they’re the other 10%.
Want better performance? Buy more RAM.
For PCs (at least on XP), go to Control Panel/System. Or right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. On the front tab, after a few moments, the amount of RAM on the system will show up.
Look at your PC and figure out what manufacturer and model you have (you may have to look at the back of the machine to get the model number). Go to a memory vendor’s website like Kingston and use the simple tools they have there to determine what kind of memory you need, what increments it can be added in, etc. Most modern PCs have 2-4 memory slots, and most of them can take any appropriate memory module, but the memory sites will explain it more clearly. Purchase it online, or purchase it at your local computer/electronics store.
Installation is pretty easy, and the cards always comes with instructions (alongside the ones in the manual to your computer), but if you have any hesitation, ask your friend who knows about computers to lend a hand. It’s a 5-10 minute job, most of which is disconnecting and reconnecting the cables of your PC, and vacuuming out all the dust that’s accumulated inside of it.
And when the job is done, your PC will run faster, and certainly change between programs and windows more quickly and reliably.
Just do it. If that doesn’t work, then do all the other “tuning” tips folks suggest. But short of that, buy more RAM. For modern PC OS’s and programs, 512Mb is probably the minimum you should comfortably have.
That’s your Tech Tip for Today.
This is very true, though keeping your system free of spyware helps too. In general when I’m asked by someone how they could speed up their PC my first question is almost always “How much RAM do you have?” which is then immediately followed by “What OS are you running?”
If they’re trying to run Windows XP on 128MB of RAM then an upgrade is almost mandatory. Sure, you can run XP on 128MB, but you need to be a very patient person. 256MB is the bare minimum I recommend for XP and 512MB is preferred if you can afford it (and most usually can). If you’re a heavy gamer or like to have lots of Office applications open at once then 1GB might do you well (though I manage to get by on a mere 512MB on my primary PC).
Now, under Windows 9X (including the horrid Millennium) anything over 384MB is probably wasted unless you’re running an application that can make use of it such as Adobe Photoshop. Overall, though, if you’ve got a small amount of RAM then adding some almost always helps, rarely hurts and is often an inexpensive upgrade.
Good guidelines. Margie was running at 256 and I dropped in 512 to make a nice 768 and a happy wife. The Ks were at 128 (also with XP) and a 612 brings them to 640 (and, when we’re visiting, also a happy wife).
The machines were functional with the lower numbers, but irksome to use and progressively unstable.
I have 512 on my notebook, and wouldn’t mind a bit more myself …
I’m seriously considering bumping my current machine up to 1GB in the not too distant future. There’s one or two games on it right now that would probably benefit from the extra elbow room. Unreal Tournament 2004, for example, which should be surprising seeing as the CD version comes on 6(!) disks. I just downloaded a WWII total conversion mod for UT2K4 called Red Orchestra which actually makes that game that much more bloated to start up and that’s why I’m looking at tossing 1GB in there.
Ack! That should read: “which shouldN’T be”