Tech News & Reviews

OK, I have to admit, even I was surprised at the difference a boost in memory made for our computer’s performance. I just finished installing 256mb of additional RAM on top of the 128mb we already had in place. Wow! What a difference that made!

You know what’s crazy? I’m running XP home edition, which M$ says should be ok with only 64mb of RAM … yeah, OK in what parallel universe? My system sludged at 128mb … but now with the enhanced total of 384mb, we’re pretty much smokin!

So, how hard is it to upgrade your memory? Not hard, depending on your system, how much you currently have, and how much it will handle. Here’s how to go about figuring out what you can use in the way of memory for your PC:

First off, we must determine how much memory you currently have. The following steps will get you there:

1. Go to the start menu (bottom left corner)
2. Click on Control Panel (or Settings then Control Panel for Win98)
3. Click on the System icon.

The amount of RAM you have in use will be listed in your system info on the bottom half of the details tab. Make a note of it

Now, let’s go shopping! In order to match EXACTLY what type of memory you can get, it is very important to get all of the details right! A lot of computer systems today want you to believe they are using proprietary memory modules that you can only buy from them. This may be true in some cases, but I have yet to encounter one. The important thing is to ensure ALL of the details are identical for what is required for your machine. So how do we find out?

Go to Crucial and use thier Memory Advisor Tool. It will identify how much memory your system CAN hold, as well as the normal configuration, AND exactly the parameters of your memory modules. Then you can go shopping at any number of sites, including good ol’ ebay and get your memory. You can buy from Crucial, but their prices are somewhat inflated. One place that I recommend is Computer Geeks. I’ve been buying computers and parts, etc. from them for over three years now, and I’ve never been disappointed.

One final thought: before you get your memory, I would recommend that you pop the case open to ensure that you do have an open memory slot available. In addition, if you’ve never done anything like this before, visit the tech support area of your PC manufacturer’s website to make sure you know how to get into the case and find the memory. If you need additional information, there are great places to get cheap tech support online.

Until we meet again…

The Guru

Question: My computer is really slowing down. What can I do to speed things up?

Answer: Generally, speed problems boil down to two main issues: old hardware (i.e., time to upgrade), or malicious software (a.k.a. malware, viruses, spyware, etc.). If your system is more than 5 years old and you are trying to run recent games or other software, it is quite possible that it is time to upgrade your system. If you are only experiencing this problem while online or when booting up or running certain programs, it is possible that you are infected with malware.

Two programs that I recommend to fight the malware battle are Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy. These are both available as free programs for the home user. Run the Ad-aware program first, and then the Spybot S&D. If this doesn’t significantly boost your speed, then you will need to look elsewhere for your solution.

If you are interested in upgrade possibilities, update your ticket with the model and brand information (as much info as you know or can get) about your computer and I will dig up what your options are.

The Guru

Is a data backup solution part of your computer plans? Do you have a way to protect yourself if something goes wrong with your computer or data? Computers are a useful part of our lives but we don’t always protect ourselves from their loss be it fire, theft or hardware failure.

We often don’t consider how fragile our computer data really is. Do you keep sensitive information on your computer that you would be upset if you lost it? Not sure? Consider this. If I told you that I was going to format your hard drive right now and you will lose all of the information on your computer, would you be ready? Or would you need to get a few files first… If you are in the second group, chances are you don’t have a proper data backup solution in place to help you handle disasters.

What happens if your computers are stolen?

I recently had a business colleague of mine who’s office was robbed and who had all of his computers stolen. He naturally felt helpless and victimized over the situation. What was especially frustrating was that he thought he had taken the proper measures to secure his office. He had a good security system in place, had secured his premises and yet they were still able to cut his phone lines, disable his alarm and have their way in his office. Don’t think a computer theft can happen to you? You know what? It can happen to anyone and you don’t have to own a business.

Computer hard drives do crash

If theft doesn’t get your computer, a hard drive failure certainly might. Hard drives are the devices in your computer that store the information on your computer. Your computers’ long term memory if you will. They are built with rotating mechanical parts. These parts break down. If they break down, your data can be gone. Are you prepared?

Data on a hard drive can often be recovered by expert data retrieval houses but their prices usually start at $10,000 and up. Want to avoid such costly recovering options? Establish a data backup solution.

A fire can wipe out your computers and your data

If computer theft or hard drive failure don’t destroy the data on your computers, a fire certainly might. This threat speaks to an off site backup storage solution. While the first two can be averted by simply burning a CD of your most critical data, fire can destroy your CD’s too if they aren’t stored off site. Fire is just one more reason why a data backup solution needs to be a part of your vocabulary and your action plan.

Protecting your data just makes good common sense. If you have data that you don’t want to loose – and most of us do – you owe it to yourself to protect your data. The next article in this series gives you some simple steps you can follow to protect yourself from data loss.

Joe Duchesne is the webmaster of Gotocompare.com a computer hardware information site with links to hardware drivers, manuals and lots more. Reprint freely as long as you maintain the live keyword rich links in this resource box.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

I recently got an e-mail asking about virtual memory. The person who sent me the question was getting an error on random occasions from their Windows operating system stating “Your computer is low on virtual memory”. They wanted to know what is virtual memory, and if this error does occur, what can I do to fix it? Here is the answer that I sent out: