From the course: Help Yourself: Tech Tips Weekly

Adding more memory

- [Instructor] Computer memory is the pool in which software swims and in which you create and modify your documents or anything creative on your computer. More memory gives your computer software and your data more room. And if the device were capable of emotion it would be happiest with more memory. To see the memory situation in your computer, bring up the task manager, press the control shift escape keyboard shortcut. And if the task manager window is minimized click to show more details then click the performance tab, choose memory. And here you can see that this computer contains eight gigabytes of memory. The details show that it has 4.4 gigabytes in use, they are compressed and this leaves 3.5 gigabytes well it's hovering between four and five right now available for other programs. So this PC is doing well but even then more memory can help improve performance. A memory upgrade is possible on desktop PCs. Laptops may feature a memory upgrade option but probably not. Tablets and small-footprint PCs most likely lack memory upgrade options. Further a memory upgrade may require replacing all memory currently installed in the system. You can't just add memory like adding more water to a pitcher. Memory comes on tiny cards and these cards plug into memory slots on the computer's motherboard. Odds are good that the slots are full meaning that more memory must replace the currently installed memory. If you plan on performing the operation yourself you must know the computer's current internal memory configuration, how many slots are available and how much memory is currently installed in each slot. Then you must calculate and configure how much memory is needed as well as technical details for the memory to ensure that it's compatible with your computer system. Here I've run a system scan from the crucial technology's website to examine this computer for memory upgrade potential. You see a list of available upgrades which I can purchase to expand the memory on this computer replace the memory or max out the memory. The tool helps me determine how the memory is configured in my computer and what I need for a perfect match to make an upgrade possible. This process removes the guesswork but I still have more work to do. When you receive your memory you must perform the upgrade. It's not that difficult. And often the source from which you obtain the memory can assist you. But if you're concerned with doing it yourself find a reputable dealer or a consultant to make the upgrade for you. With the new memory installed, you can start enjoying a performance boost the next time you turn on your computer.

Contents