Computer Memory
Computer memory is one of the most important parts of a computer. It is used to hold frequently accessed data such as programs. Because computers have so much data, computer memory is divided into two parts. The faster part is called RAM, which is stored on a memory module. Then there is a slower part called virtual memory, which is stored on a hard drive. Both are combined to be the total amount of memory on the computer. Read on to understand how computer memory works and optimize it.
Instructions
1. Open up your computer with a screwdriver and locate the memory modules called DIMM (dual in-line memory module), which is used for RAM. There may be empty memory slots for installing extra DIMMs.
2. Locate the hard drive. A portion of the hard drive is reserved by the operating system to be used as virtual memory when RAM is not enough to fit all of the data.
3. Close the computer and boot into Windows.
4. Once you log into Windows, go to Control Panel and select "System." The window that pops up will show you the amount of RAM that is available.
5. Locate the advanced system options for virtual memory in the operating system. It's different depending on which version of Windows you're running. From there, you can see the size of virtual memory, which is equal to the size of the page file.
6. Try to start 10 programs. The computer will slow down as you increase the number of simultaneously run programs. If your computer acts slow all the time like this, you can open the computer again and install more RAM to improve performance.
Tags: virtual memory, hard drive, into Windows, memory module, memory which